British scientists sniff out a whiff of the past

london — Inspired by the aroma of ancient paper, scientists are documenting the odours of a stately British home in a bid to preserve historical smells for posterity.

The team has been working at Knole House in southeast England, capturing the smell of books, gloves, vinyl records and even the floor waxes.

Apart from testing the objects to try to replicate their smell in the laboratory, the scientists have relied on written records about the house, which was the childhood home of novelist Vita SackvilleWest.

“Smells help us connect to history in a more human way,” said Cecilia Bembibre, a doctoral student at University College London who has been working on the project alongside analytical chemist Matija Strlic.

The project aims to identify smells that have “cultural value”, as well as “ways of documenting them and hopefully preserving them”, Bembibre told.

Strlic said studying in the historic home was crucial because objects were in their “natural habitat”.

“In a museum or gallery they have been taken out of context and are presented to us exclusively visually.”

Strlic and Bembibre published an article in the academic journal Heritage Science on Friday that included a poll of visitors to a Birmingham gallery presented with the smell of paper.

Respondents were not told what the smell was. —