Episode 495. Curator Of Manuscripts

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“HEATHER WOLFE FOLGERHeather Wolfe is the Curator of Manuscripts and Archivist at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC and the one everyone turns to find out whether a long lost manuscript is authentic. Heather talks about her work and reveals surprising details about ghost stories, swiftly changing technologies, ink recipes, where quill pens come from, what might actually have happened to Shakespeare’s first drafts, the incredible usefulness of hard insect excretions, and the importance of paleography without tears. UPDATE: Since recording this interview, Heather revealed nearly a dozen previously unknown records relating to Shakespeare’s coat of arms that shed new light on his social aspirations and inextricably link the Man From Stratford to Shakespeare the Actor. Read all about it in the New York Times. (Length 20:35)

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