HAVERFORD, Pa. (AP) — The valuable 17th-century letter was hiding in plain sight, available to almost anyone who checked the "D'' drawer of the library card catalog at Haverford College. "Descartes, Rene (1596-1650) French philosopher. 'Mon Reverend Pere' 27 May, 1641 (?) (in French)," reads the handwritten index card. Yet this signed missive from Descartes, a pivotal figure in Western philosophy and mathematics, had remained unnoticed by scholars for more than a century until a Haverford librarian posted its existence online last fall. The "discovery" of the famous, long-lost letter at first seemed an archivist's dream. But it briefly turned into a nightmare when college officials...
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