Unlocking History number (UH#)

UH0137



Original

Queen Elizabeth’s Triangle-shaped letterpacket to François, Duc d’Alencon



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

LUV137  https://youtu.be/UFJ9onXK0_4 



Instructional video info transcription

Forthcoming



Letterlocking Category number (LC #)

LC15L



Letterlocking Format number (LF #)

3T



Security score

Low



Assessment of Confidence in assigning LC#

Attested



Substrate

Paper



Dimensions

Opened (in mm):       H: 180 mm x W: 235 mm        

Letterpacket (in mm): H: 75mm x W: 90mm



Manifestation

Opened



Distinctive letterlocking style(s)

Triangle format



Locking mechanism

Lock



Security enhancements

Authenticated exposed seal



Letterlocking category formula (shorthand)

LC15 

Fold + Slit/Hole + Adhere + Lock-O 

(F + S/H + A + LO)



Letterlocking manipulation sequence (shorthand)

Forthcoming



Locking instructions

Forthcoming



Images 

Forthcoming



Foldable(s)

Forthcoming



Step-by-steps 

Forthcoming



Substrate map

Forthcoming



Virtual unfolding results

NA



Manipulations

Writing: Margin folds

Postal: NA

Opening: Tears 

Filing (Storage, Display): NA, adhered into a letterbook along one edge

Repair: NA, Mends, Linings, Silking



Damage

Tears

Water stains (tide lines)



Features

Dirt on panels/ in crease

Radiating wrinkles

Seal impression adjacency

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. 



2021. The Spiral-Locked Letters of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots



Book 

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



Citation for the letter(s)

UH0137

Original

Elizabeth I to François, Duc d’Alençon, (1583), The National Archives, Kew, SP fols. 78/9.



Model

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



Video

LUV137

Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starza Smith and the Unlocking History Research Group, “Queen Elizabeth’s triangle-shaped letterpacket to François, Duc d’Alençon, England (1583).” Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0137/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 0137. Filmed: November 2017. Posted: November 2017. Duration: 5:14. https://youtu.be/UFJ9onXK0_4. Accessed March 4, 2025.   




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