The Stratford Records Office is located right next door to Shakespeare's Birthplace. We arrived at the end of the day while people were leaving work and kids were walking around after school.
After we signed the visitors book, we met Dr. Bob Bearman who had extended his work day for us. Bob led us down the stairs to a vaulted chamber, much like what you would see at a bank. Behind a heavy door were some of the town's oldest and most precious documents.
The room wasn't very large and the lighting was a strange yellow which made us all look a bit sickly on camera. Under normal circumstances, the room would have been kept dark to protect the documents, but the lights were turned on for us to take a peek at some documents relating to Shakespeare's life in Stratford-upon-Avon.
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Bob didn't waste time. He immediately brought out documents containing clues about the life of Shakespeare. There is not much information about his actual life, but what is known of his life has been found by piecing together the paper trail of information.
We all felt like we were part of the team helping to solve the Shakespeare mystery. Of course, there are people who have dedicated their lives to researching and studying every aspect of Shakespeare's life and writings so it was highly unlikely that we would discover anything new and earth shattering. However, it is fun to uncover information for yourself.
The documents looked surprisingly good for their age. Our favorite was the warrant signed by Queen Elizabeth I. Bob let Christopher try to read it, but he just couldn't decipher it. Writing during Shakespeare's time looks a bit different than what we are used to today, so naturally that threw Christopher. Meanwhile, Jenny was itching to have a go at reading it; she had practiced reading documents from the Elizabethan Age. It was like a puzzle or game that we tried to figure out and while frustrating, it was quite fun!
Yours truly,
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