Unlocking History Number (UH#)

UH0041 with a Triangle lock-SU wrapper (UH6267)


Original

Lord Burghley to Rafe Sadler concerning the arrest of Mary Queen of Scots


Model and research notes

MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 16.


Letterlocking Unique Video Number(s) (LUV #s) & Instructional Video(s) URL

LUV041 https://youtu.be/CFZjdaALntA 


Instructional video info transcription

Forthcoming


Letterlocking category Number (LC #)

LC03Z  Document security                      


Letterlocking format Number (LF #)

4RW        


Security score

High


Assessment of Confidence in assigning LC#

Attested


Substrate

Paper


Dimensions

Forthcoming

Opened (in mm):       

Letterpacket (in mm): 


Manifestation

Opened


Distinctive letterlocking style(s)

Triangle lock-SU wrapper  


Locking Mechanism

Lock


Security enhancements

Authenticated covered seal

Fake security

Matching lock with paper from which it was cut

Text across lock and address panel        


Letterlocking category formula (shorthand)

Letter: 

LC3 

Fold + Slit/Hole 

(F + S/H)


Wrapper:

LC23 

Fold + Slit/Hole + Adhere + Lock-SU 

(F + S/H + A + LSU)


Letterlocking manipulation sequence (shorthand)

Fold + fold + fold + fold +fold +  fold +fold + slit + lock-SU + adhere


Locking instructions

Forthcoming


Images 

Forthcoming


Foldable(s)

Forthcoming


Step-by-steps 

Forthcoming


Substrate map

Forthcoming


Virtual unfolding results

NA


Manipulations

Forthcoming

Writing: Margin folds

Postal: NA

Opening: Tears

Filing (Storage, Display): NA

Repair: NA


Damage

NA


Features

Dirt on panels/ in crease

Radiating wrinkles


Article(s)

2023. Daniel Starza Smith & Jana Dambrogio. Letterlocking: securing correspondence before envelopes in Routledge Encyclopedia of the Renaissance World. Lauren Shohet, subject editor. 


Book 

Jana Dambrogio, Daniel Starza Smith, and the Unlocking History Research Group. Letterlocking, The Hidden History of the Letter. Cambridge and London: MIT Press, 2025.


Citation for the letter(s)

UH0041

Original 

Lord Burghley’s letter to Rafe Sadler (1 February 1584), the British Library, Add MS 89293, ff. 44r-47v. 


Model

MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 16.


Video

Original 

Jana Dambrogio and the Unlocking History Research Group. "Lord Burghley to Rafe Sadler concerning the arrest of Mary Queen of Scots, triangle lock wrapper, England (1584)," Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0041, UH6267/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 0041. Filmed: December 2015. Duration: 6:00. Posted: March 2016. URL: https://youtu.be/CFZjdaALntA. Accessed March 4, 2025.