Unlocking History number (UH#)

UH0218

Original

Unknown to Madame Collin at the home of Monsieur Harlan, tax collector, France (ca. 1690–1720) in the Brienne Collection, Sound and Vision The Hague, DB-1538

Model and research notes

MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Boxes 21–24.

Letterlocking Unique Video number(s) (LUV #s) & Instructional video(s) URL

LUV218: https://youtu.be/lSRVIrqtL5M  

LUV253: https://youtu.be/_awvL2O4PVY 

LUV257: https://youtu.be/2Jli57X5_6k  

LUV258: https://youtu.be/g4HQQ8FAerQ    

Instructional video info transcription

Forthcoming

Letterlocking Category number (LC #)

LC05L

Letterlocking Format number (LF #)

4RXW

Security score

Low

Assessment of confidence in assigning LC#

Attested

Substrate

Paper

Dimensions

Opened (in mm):      Forthcoming

Letterpacket (in mm): H: 51mm x W: 95mm

Manifestation

Physically unopened (virtually opened)

Distinctive letterlocking style(s)

Independent folding: Roll fold

Virtual unlocking

Locking mechanism

Closure flap

Security enhancements

Letterlocking category formula (shorthand)

LC5 

Fold + Adhere

(F + A)

Letterlocking manipulation sequence (shorthand)

Forthcoming

A list of manipulations used to make a letterpacket, accounting for occurrence, frequency, and order of application, but not the technique (no named fold sequences or orientation instructions) used to make them. 

Example: Fold + fold + fold + fold + fold + fold + fold + fold + fold + adhere

Locking instructions

Fold substrate and write letter

Independent folding, leaf 1

  1. Place the sheet of paper on a surface, oriented landscape. 

  2. Bifolium fold. Fold the sheet in half, short-edge to short-edge. Keep folded. 

  3. Roll fold the first leaf of bifolium right to left two times to align with the gutter edge of the bifolium.

Create a gatefold 

  1. Fold the bottom edge up to the  middle of the packet. Keep folded. 

  2. Fold the top edge down to the middle of the packet. Keep folded. 

Create the outer closure panels

  1. Rotate the folded letter 90 counter clockwise so the short gutter edge becomes the bottom edge 

  2. Fold the bottom  edge towards the top, leaving approximately 10mm to create the closure flap. Keep folded.

  3. Fold the top edge onto the stacked panels to form the closure flap and the letterpacket. Unfold the closing flap. 

  4. Unfold the the bottom edge.

Create a straddle closure flap

  1. On the closure flap, push in the side edges. Keep folded to create the straddle closure flap. 

  2. Refold the bottom edge one time. Keep folded over the bottom half of the straddled closure flap. 

Lock the letterpacket 

  1. Apply clear adhesive along the inside of the short and narrow trapezoidal-shaped closure flap. 

  2. Refold the closure flap onto the closure panel. Keep folded. 

Writing manipulations 

  1. Flip packet. 

  2. Write address.

Images 

address side: DB-1538_01.tif

reverse side: DB-1538_02.tif

Download 

address side: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/api/access/datafile/4185336 

reverse side: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/api/access/datafile/4185087 

Foldable(s)

Forthcoming

Step-by-steps 

Forthcoming

Substrate map

Forthcoming

Virtual unfolding results

https://github.com/UnlockingHistory 

Manipulations

Writing: NA

Postal: Postage marks, 

Opening: NA, unopened

Filing (Storage, Display): NA, 

Repair: NA

Damage

Wormholes

Features

Dirt on panels/ in crease

Watermark

Transcription and translation

Forthcoming

Article(s)

2021.  Jana Dambrogio, Amanda Ghassaei, Daniel Starza Smith, Holly Jackson, Martin L. Demaine, Graham Davis, David Mills, Rebekah Ahrendt, Nadine Akkerman, David van der Linden, Erik D. Demaine, Unlocking history through automated virtual unfolding of sealed documents imaged by X-ray microtomography. Nature Communications 12, 1184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21326-w 

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.

Further resources

Citation for the letter(s)

UH0218 (LUV 218, LUV253, LUV257, LUV258)

Original 

Unknown to Madame Collin (ca.1689–1706). Brienne Collection, Sound & Vision The Hague, DB-1538.

Model

MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Boxes 21–24.

Video

UH0218 (LUV 218, LUV253, LUV257, LUV258)

Video: (LUV0218) Jana Dambrogio, Amanda Ghassaei, Daniel Starza Smith, Holly Jackson, and the Unlocking History Research Group, “Brienne Postal Archive: A virtually unfolded letter to Madame Collin at the home of Monsieur Harlan, tax collector, France (1690–1720),” Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0218/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 0218. Filmed: July 30, 2021 Duration: 1:39. Posted: March 2, 2021. URL: https://youtu.be/lSRVIrqtL5M. Accessed: March 23, 2025.     

Video: (LUV253) Amanda Ghassaei, “Virtual Reality: Announcing a world first! Virtual unfolding a sealed letter from the Brienne Collection (DB-1538)!” Filmed: October 2020. Duration: 0:06. https://youtu.be/_awvL2O4PVY.  Accessed October 1, 20233.

Video: (LUV257) Video: AG, “XMT scan animation exploded view of letterpacket layers from the Brienne Collection (DB-1538).” Filmed: October 2020. Duration: 0:20. https://youtu.be/2Jli57X5_6k.  Accessed October 1, 2023.

Video: (LUV258) AG, “Virtual unfolding: growing and flattening animation of an unopened letter from the Brienne Collection (DB-1538).” Filmed: October 2020. Duration: 1:17. https://youtu.be/g4HQQ8FAerQ.  Accessed October 1, 2023.

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