Century-Old Note Found: 100-Year-Old Notebook Discovered Frozen In Ice [Video]

Century-old notes found within a 100-year-old notebook are making headlines after the aged notebook was found frozen in ice. The notebook belonged to George Murray Levick, who was a notable British Antarctic explorer, photographer, naval surgeon and the founder of the Public Schools Exploring Society. Levick died in 1956. Now, his words live on through the century-old notes found in the Antarctic ice at the Cape Evans base, one of explorer Robert Falcon Scott’s (1868-1912) expedition bases.

Back in 1910, Levick became part of Scott’s expedition. He kept notes in the century-old notebook that pertained to photographs he took at Cape Adare in 1911. Those pictures are currently at the Scott Polar Research Institute. Despite being written in pencil, the notes are particularly well preserved after 100 years beneath the ice.

Nigel Watson is the director of the Antarctic Heritage Trust. He spoke with CNN about the importance of the discovery.

“It’s an exciting find. The notebook is a missing part of the official expedition record. After spending seven years conserving Scott’s last expedition building and collection, we are delighted to still be finding new artifacts.”

When the century-old notebook was found, its pages were adhered together. Its binding had dissolved and it was in dire need of professional restoration. Paper conservator Aline Leclercq was charged with the daunting task of restoring the historic find, according to KTVZ. Leclercq painstakingly separated the pages that had stuck together over the years. She cleaned the pages before they were digitally recorded.

Using remnants of the notebook’s original cover, Leclercq rebuilt and sewed together the notebook. Once her handiwork was completed, Levick’s notebook was returned to Antarctica where it joined 11,000 other artifacts at Cape Evans. Leclercq’s efforts were documented on a video that shows exactly how complicated it is to restore a century-old document.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, a century-old note found in a bottle in the Baltic Sea was written on a postcard dated 1913. A fisherman discovered the brown beer bottle in March of this year. When he uncorked the bottle, he saw the preserved note that had been drifting on the ocean for more than 100 years.

The brown beer bottle and its accompanying century-old note found earlier this year now reside at the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg, Germany. Richard Platz was the man who wrote the note and sent it on its 101-year journey. Platz was just 20 years old at the time. He died in 1946.

[Image via Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand]