An original Rene Descartes letter was rediscovered in the archives at Haverford College. Apparently, it’s part of a set that an unscrupulous archivist stole in the mid 19th century. I read about it at the Times, and the expert that was asked for a quote said this:
Scholars have known of the letter’s existence for more than 300 years, but not its contents. Apparently the only person who had really studied it was a Haverford undergraduate who spent a semester writing a paper about the letter in 1979. (Mr. Bos called the paper “a truly fine piece of work.”)
As a college student, the fact that someone wrote a term paper that was read thirty years later by the foremost experts in the field makes me really happy. I bet that guy doesn’t even remember writing the paper.
hammer & jack 