Option 2 should be used only for small one-off requests, and is scheduled to be deprecated in mid-2019. Option 1 is recommended, as it streamlines the process, is easier for a larger amount of redaction requests, and has a faster completion time. There are two ways to submit a redaction request, as detailed below. To see what an Issue will look like to an end user after redaction, see What will my end users see after an Issue has been redacted?
It was Fersen, who used the same inks to write and redact some of the letters.
Michelin said the most surprising finding was that her team could also identify the person who censored the letters. He said that the technique could also help historians decipher redacted or censored “phrases and passages in diplomatic correspondence, sensitive political correspondence, and other texts that have eluded historical analysis due to redactions." “This is amazing,” said Ronald Schechter, a historian who studies Marie Antoinette's library at William & Mary and was not involved in the study. In eight of the 15 letters the researchers analyzed, there were sufficient differences in the chemical composition of the inks - the proportion of iron, copper and other elements - that they could map out each layer separately, and thus recover the original text. His family kept the correspondence until 1982, when the letters were purchased by the French national archives. Certain portions of text were scribbled out in dark ink. The letters exchanged between Marie Antoinette and Fersen, who never married, were altered after the fact.
Some correspondents in 18th century Europe famously employed secret codes and so-called “invisible ink” to hide their full meaning from certain eyes. “Like a metaphorical state of undress, they’ve let their head down and show are who they really are,” she said.īut savvy writers were also aware that their letters may be read by multiple audiences. “In 18th century western Europe, there’s a kind of cult of the letter as a form of writing that gives you access to a person’s character like no other,” said Deidre Lynch, a historian who studies the period’s literary culture at Harvard and was not involved in the study. Marie Antoinette and Fersen met in France when they were both 18. The redacted phrases, such as “madly” and “beloved,” don't change the overall meaning, but tone of the relationship between the sender and receiver.
The wide-ranging letters, penned on thick cotton paper, discuss political events and personal feelings. We know with this text, there is love relationship,” said Anne Michelin, a material analyst at the Sorbonne's Research Center for Conservation and co-author of the research published Friday in the journal Science Advances. “In this time, people used a lot of flowery language - but here, it's really strong, really intimate language. Soon the French monarchy would be abolished, and the next year both Marie Antoinette and her husband, Louis XVI, would be beheaded. The letters were exchanged between June 1791 and August 1792 - a period when the French royal family was kept under close surveillance in Paris, after having attempted to flee the country. Spang, who studies the French Revolution at Indiana University, and was not involved in the study. “It’s always exciting when you discover that you can know more about the past than you thought you could,” said historian Rebecca L.