english professor made the discovery while researching a translator named samuel ward at the university of cambridge sussex college in england. >> there was that aha moment where the thing snaps into focus. and still an element of disbelief that goes along with that. >> reporter: samuel ward was one of 50 people commissioned by king james in 1604 to by king james in 1604 to translate the bible from greek and hebrew into english. >> the draft may be changes what you might expect a draft of that to look like. >> miller was looking for nsa when he come across the draft, a draft no one knew existed. >> professor miller was not only engaged in his work and happened to come across this, but he also had the knowledge base that was necessary to actually recognize. >> reporter: allin cottrell is the associate dean of college of humanities at montclair state. >> what professor miller's discovery does is actually help us understand a bit more about the process that led up to the outcome. >> reporter: miller hopes the findings will inspire his students. >> i would encourage anyone who comes across

i was asked to write an essay about samuel ward, what things he was interested in.on to be the -- i went over to research a lot of his manu script notebooks and papers and see what sort of things was he interested in and doing. >> you're digging around in archives? >> well, they have an archivist there named nicholas rogers. they have a library catalog. you tell them, i would like you -- can i please see this particular notebook or this particular notebook. this had been cataloged as containing a biblical commentary. it was in looking at that and trying to piece together which part of the bible he was commenting on that i realized he wasn't commenting on it but drafting it. >> it's a very unassuming object. it's about the size of a small paperback book n just one of these little notebooks this man used throughout the course of his life. there are numerous notebooks that look a lot like this. >> how does something like this go unnoticed for four centuries plus? >> in a lot of ways. partly because there are, in fact, new discoveries to be made all the time. lots of ob