Student Finds Rare Lincoln Fingerprint

Source: Science Daily

A student at Miami University has discovered what experts say is a fingerprint belonging to Abraham Lincoln from nearly 150 years ago.

Lydia Smith, a first-year psychology major from Granville, Ohio, was transcribing a letter written by Lincoln on Oct. 5, 1863, for a class project when she noticed a smudge that she suspected could be the 16th president’s thumbprint. Lincoln historians have confirmed the print.

A student at Miami University has discovered what experts say is a fingerprint belonging to Abraham Lincoln from nearly 150 years ago.

The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, a project of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency and Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, reviewed and confirmed the print, making it the second rare fingerprint of the 16th president housed at Miami’s libraries.

The collection at Miami includes the first authenticated fingerprint of Lincoln with a signature known to historians since it was first verified in 1957. Lydia Smith's discovery of the second fingerprint has historians taking notice.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090213104743.htm

Photo at the link (you can actually see the print)

ewwwweee. ackety.

:)

No Bics or Pilots back then. The first fountain pen wasn't readily available until the 1880s; Lincoln probably used a steel nib on a wood shaft (or maybe he liked quills).

And yeah, I know you were just being silly. ;)