“I was doing research at a Florida library in the papers of a former United States senator. The papers were on microfilm, and I cranked the machine wheel hour after hour to find that apparently every extant document had been faithfully filmed but that they consisted only of tedious transcript records of rivers and harbors legislation. Then, abruptly, I came upon a…note to the senator: ‘If you don’t come across with the money, I’m telling your wife everything.'”
–William E. Leuchtenburg, Kenan professor emeritus of history at UNC Chapel Hill, recalling (in a 2003 address) a memorable moment of microfilm serendipity.