The [British Library] would be putting on display a thirteenth-century edition of a remarkable Latin manuscript called “De Ornatu Mulierum,” a compendium of beauty and hygiene advice for women. [Tasha] Marks had obtained ingredients listed in the manuscript to re-create the smell of a breath freshener and of a hair perfume that would have been applied as a powder, like dry shampoo. (“Let her make furrows in her hair and sprinkle on the aforementioned powder, and it will smell marvellously.”) The text didn’t offer exact recipes—no proportions were provided—so there was an element of improvisation, allowing Marks to act as both historian and artist.

— Read more in Remembrance of Scents Past: At museums, curators are incorporating smells that can transport visitors to a different time at The New Yorker. (Sorry, the Medieval Women: In Their Own Words exhibit ended in March, but you can read more about it here or see a review at The Guardian.)