Historical Documents
Trove of Rare Renaissance Books Could Fetch $25 Million at Auction
T. Kimball Brooker has amassed a collection of more than 1,300 texts from the 16th century
Stolen in the 1980s, a Rare Christopher Columbus Letter Returns to Italy
The document is among several missing copies of the letter to be recovered from the U.S. in recent years
Leonardo da Vinci Sketches Go on Display in the U.S. for the First Time
Pages of the "Codex Atlanticus" provide a rare glimpse into the Renaissance icon's imagination and scientific prowess
Medieval Manuscript Reveals 15th-Century Comedy Routine
Written to be performed live, a medieval minstrel's jokes poked fun at the powerful
Quarantine Hospital and Cemetery Found Underwater Off the Coast of Florida
Before it was submerged, a small island was home to 19th-century yellow fever patients
Without the First Folio, Half of Shakespeare's Plays Would Have Been Lost to History
The 400-year-old text presented the Bard's plays as serious literature, muddling the boundaries between popular culture and high art
You Could Win $1 Million by Deciphering These Ancient Roman Scrolls
The Herculaneum scrolls have remained unreadable since their discovery in 1750, but researchers hope to change that
World's Oldest Near-Complete Hebrew Bible Goes to Auction
The Codex Sassoon could break auction records, becoming the most valuable historical document ever sold
Three Pioneering Scholars Who Died This Year
They believed that the stories of marginalized communities were worth chronicling
National Archives Releases Thousands of Kennedy Assassination Files
Over 97 percent of documents related to the event are now publicly available
A Group of Crypto Investors Is Trying to Buy the Constitution—Again
For the second year in a row, a DAO is vying to bid on a rare first-edition copy
Nazi-Looted Beethoven Manuscript Returned to Original Owners
The Czech Republic's Moravian Museum gave the document to the heirs of the Petschek family
Woman’s Name and Doodles Found Hidden in 1,200-Year-Old Religious Manuscript
The name may point to an abbess who lived in Kent at a time when few women could read or write
See Inside the Rarely Seen and Newly Reimagined CIA Museum
Off-limits to all but a few in-person visitors, the museum is starting to welcome the public, online at least
Document Detectives Use Smudges and Bloodstains to Investigate the Past
Proteins left behind on historic artifacts are revealing centuries-old secrets
Man Pays $75 for Medieval Text That Could Be Worth $10,000
He spotted the page from the 13th-century Beauvais Missal at an estate sale in Maine
The Remarkable Effort to Locate America's Lost Patents
An 1836 blaze destroyed thousands of records that catalogued the young nation's ingenuity, but recent discoveries indicate that originals may still exist
How One Historian Located Liberia’s Elusive Founding Document
The piece of paper went missing for nearly 200 years, leaving some scholars to question whether it even existed
How Much Medieval Literature Has Been Lost Over the Centuries?
A new analysis suggests that just 9 percent of manuscripts produced in Europe during the Middle Ages survive today
Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Personal Library Is Up for Auction
The late Supreme Court justice's collection includes novels, law books, notes and other documents dating back to her youth
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