DRUM COVERS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 39, 15 February 1930, Page 20

DRUM COVERS

Valuable Papers Used

The British Record- Society, believing that many; parchments and other documents of historical value are hidin attics and, cellars and even serving den away ■ in > solicitors' offices, stored as sides of toy drums, is launching a compaign for the better preservation of public and private documents. The romance of how some of the priceless documents in the British Museum were obtained was described to a "Daily Mail" reporter by Mr. R.: Flower,; of the Manuscripts Department. He said:

Recently I went to see a man in the country who.had unearthed from a cellar a bundle of documents which meant very little of him. In went through them and found a letetr from Matthew Prior the poet'(who died in 1721), arid documents and letters signed by King William 111. and most; of the statesmen of .the Eevolution period.

The owner's .father attempted to burn the collection because of the room it took up. Ho stuffed all the documents into a kitchen range-and the chimney caught fire, with the result that many were pulled out again. They are now in the British Museum. *

Practically the only documentary evidence we have of Shakespeare, the man—in contrast to Shakespeare, the writer—is in legal documents; his will andVhe evidence he gave and signed in deposition form when he give evidence in a case before the Court of Requests.