PROCEEDINGS-OF-A-SEMINAR-30-NOVEMBER-1976.PDF

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Doc ID: 6588659 
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NEW RESEARCH ON THE VOYNICH MANUSCRIPT I 
Gf>roceedings of a Seminar 
30 November 1976 
Washington, D. C. 
Approved for Release by NSA on 07-18-2017 , FOIA Case # 101982 

. a Doc ID: 6588659. NEW RESEARCH ON THE VOYNICH MANUSCRIPT PROCEEDINGS OF A SEMINAR 30 November 1976 Washington, D.C.

Doc ID: 6588659 
P:i.gures 
Elitarial Prefaoe 
I. !b:niJl<;r Sessial: 10:00 - ll:OO AM 
A. 
General Intrcduct.ian. 
Vera Filby, Spansar. 
B. 
Introductory Ranarks. 
M. E. 0 1 ntper10, M:xleratar. 
c. 
A Lin;uisb.c Approach to the Vaynich Text. James Cluld. 
D. 
Sane llnp:lrtant New Statistical Fi.rrlinqs. 
capt. Pl:esc:Dtt Currier. 
II. Aftern:xm. Sessl.al: 
1:00 - 4:00 PM 
A. 
Introductory :Remarks. 
M. B. D' ~io, ~tar. 
B. 
SUggestions 'fCMalrl a ~iphe:crrEnt of the "Key." 
Dr. '¥lney Faubanks. 
c. -
Solution Clajiu of Dr. R:lbert s. Brmmaugh. 
M. E. D'Imper10. 
D. 
Further Details of New St…

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PiamES 
1. Sanple _,,;ngs (Mr. Child) 
2. ~ 
~ 
(Mr. Child) 
3. ,._ in Maly.in;! the Voynicli Y.s; (Dr. Fairbanks) 
4. ~(Dr. 
Fairbanlao) 
5 • 
Bt'Ultbaugh I llil Matrix 
6. ~ 
Ci"'1er ~....,.,. 
7. -
~ 
Dec! Jihern .. tts by BrultbaUgh 

Doc ID: 6588659 
IDl'IORIAL PREFJ\CE 
These notes oontain th= proceedinqs of a cne-da.y semmar an 
the Voyru.ch nanuscript, h3l.d in waalungton, o:::, on 30 November 
1976. With the exception of Dr. Fairbanks' p:i::esentatl.a:l (of 
which he provided a written version far inclusion in these 
procee:hngs), all tre :material. was transcribed by :ire, with only 
minor edit.J.ng, fran a taped reoord of the sessions. 
I apologize 
in advan::e to those .__,. durinq -
diSCllSsicn period wlD cotl.d 
not be J.dentl.fiai (bec.3J1se I cx:ul.d. DJt i:e:xgrdze their VOJ.CeS on 
the tape) • 
I apologize alB…

Doc ID: 6588659 
I.A. General Int.roduction. Vera Filby, Sponsor. 
Gooi nnning, and wel.o:m:! to rur saninar en the Voyrw::h 
manuscript. A year ago tins m::nth, Brigacb.er Tiltman, wtx> is 
tEre with us tcday in the front :ccw, gave a talk on the Voynich 
manuscript - the nost n:rtSterJ.OUS maru.script m the wxld. 'lhis 
talk so inspu:ej h«> of rur ue:tb!rs that they have since eDJage::i 
in serials research into the problem, within the rather conslil-
erable range of their '""" specialities: czyptanal.ysis in the 
one case and l.J.nguistl.Cs m the other • 
I knew of their \iritlrk, 
and was …

Doc ID: 6588659
that's the best that we can really expect. 
Now I..alies aIXi Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to intraiuce our 
ncderator far the Voynich seminar, Miss Mary o' Imperio. 
Mary is 
in·the final stages of canpleting a naiograph on the history of 
research on the Voynich maruscript; she calls it "The Elegant 
Enigma." It is, I think, a magnificently scholarly job, an:I 
eventually you'll all have a chaooe to read it. Mary has degrees 
in Calparative Philology arxi Classics f:ran Ra:lcliffe, arxi 
Structural Linguistics f:ran the University of Permsylvania. 
Her 
career has been with t…

Doc ID: 6588659 
I.B. Introductary Ranarks. 
M. E. D'Imperio, Mc:derator. 
Before I present OllI' feature:l speakers, I 1«IJld like to give 
a brief intrcdnction, for the benefit of tlx>se who may te unfamiliar 
with tre probl.au of tre Vcynich manuscri:pt. Ill' raMrks will oenter 
arooOO. t:J«> main tcpics: first, I will try to sketch, very rapidly, 
s::metlu.nq of the history am physical na.tw:e of the maruscript. 
'lh!n, I want to eey sarething about tre cryptanal.ytic probl.au posed 
by the nenus:::npt, ani aare of the thin:Js that have ma:le it so chal-
leng1119 an! so ln- to so many poop…