Although I’m currently on vacation on the Turkish Aegean coast, I felt I had to share some interesting news with my readers about a new discovery of some previously unknown documents written by Abraham Lincoln. A couple of my friends gave me the “heads up” and I’m grateful to them for it.
According to this article in The Huffington Post, summer intern David Spriegel (age 21) was working with papers at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois when he made this new discovery. While sorting through papers which were to be digitized, Mr. Spriegel noticed a small inscription on a paper which read “The above memorandum is in the inscription of Abraham Lincoln – M. Hay”.
These few documents detail the purchase and selling of some lots in Springfield dating back to the time that Lincoln was a lawyer in that town. Mr. Hay was Milton Hay, who served earlier in his career as a law clerk in one of Lincoln’s firms. Milton Hay’s nephew, John M. Hay, ended up becoming a secretary and personal assistant to Lincoln during his presidency, and later served as U.S. Secretary Of State.
The memos have been authenticated by experts and now will join at least 1,800 other authentic Lincoln documents in the Lincoln Library’s collection.
It’s not unusual for a new Lincoln document to surface, according to the article. What is unusual is that such discoveries are typically made by scholars and researchers, not by a summer intern only two weeks into his position. This finding by Mr. Spriegel will be hard to top.
Now, back to vacation, but always vigilant for new Lincoln discoveries to share with my readers.
