Archive Proximity
Mark Knowles > 10-02-2023, 01:33 PM
I have bemoaned the fact that Voynich research seems to largely ignore the wealth of material in archives. I appreciate the fact that depending on where ones lives actually visiting an archive may be difficult or inconvenient at best and so online searching is much more convenient. However what percentage of material is available online; if my cipher experience is something to go by then maybe 10%, not more than 20%, which leaves 80+% unexplored. Traveling to another country to do archival research is expensive and time consuming, so not possible for many people. If one is fortunate enough to live near a major archive then the situation is different.
I am fortunate to live near the Bodleian library in Oxford, which is large archive and contains material from continental Europe from the time of Voynich. However someone living in Rome or Paris or Milan amongst other cities would be better placed than I am to find relevant material. I get the impression that the number of researchers living in such locations is very few. Why is that? It would be intriguing to see a map highlighting the most relevant and significant archives to Voynich research and a map showing the cities where Voynich researchers live.
I myself am seriously considering moving to Italy some day in the future as there is a lot more that I can do there than here.