Chaucer’s disputed legacy: new discoveries
HistoryExtra podcast
00:00
What Do They Smell Like?
There's a huge amount of new material that has never been looked at for. It started terrifying and exciting at the same time, but there's still more to be found. The predominant smell is cold dust and coal because they originally used to dry these records in the 14, 15, 16 centuries by putting them next to a coal fire. Also, one of the few times you might actually need to wear gloves, but that's more for keeping your hands clean than for handling the documents safely.
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