Researcher Faked Date on Lincoln Document, Officials Say

aolnews.com ^ | Jan 24, 2011 | AOL

[Berlin_Freeper]

A Virginia man has confessed to trying to rewrite history by altering a date on a document penned by Abraham Lincoln -- a move that enhanced his own reputation as a scholar, the National Archives said today.

Longtime Lincoln researcher Thomas Lowry, of Woodbridge, Va., admitted that he changed the date on a presidential pardon issued to Patrick Murphy, a Union Army soldier who was court-martialed for desertion during the Civil War, said David S. Ferriero, archivist of the United States.

Lowry altered the date on the document from April 14, 1964, to April 14, 1965 -- the day John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, Ferriero said. After changing the date, Lowry was then able to claim he had found what may have been one of Lincoln's last official acts, if not the very last one, Ferriero said.

[Not now, Not ever!]

April 14, 1964, to April 14, 1965,

it appears this rag doesn't have proofreaders

[fish hawk]

they better change the date again as I don’t believe Lincoln was still alive in 1964 1965. Somebody goofed here.

[M. Thatcher]

1964/1965? Now THAT’S revisionism.

[Tainan]

Maybe it was a different A. Lincoln...?

[haroldeveryman]

I wonder he had anything to do with those Nostradamus and 2012 segments on the History Channel.

[Not now, Not ever!]

Many questions abound on this one.

[I still care]

Either that or they think Lincoln just died about fifty years ago.

Given the sad state of education today, I hope it’s not the later.

[BykrBayb]

He dated the document April 14, 1965? He must be the forger Dan Ra^ther hired.

[SpaceBar]

Misprinted dates in the article notwithstanding, this guy’s reputation as being a historical document expert are toast. Probably could have named his price as a forensic expert for high dollar auction houses, but now couldn’t get hired to flip burgers.

[Lancey Howard]

lol

[NoLibZone]

He can get a job in Hawaii.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“it appears this rag doesn’t have proofreaders “

They probably have 20-25 yr. old proofreaders for whom 1864 and 1964 are pretty much the same - ‘a long time ago involving some old white dude’.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It’s a stunt! Nobody knows what it means! It’s over a hundred years old!

[Rocky]

Oh boy, the comments are going to be entertaining on this one.

[Portcall24]

I believe there’s a job opening in Hawaii where he might find work.

[Rocky]

...but now couldn’t get hired to flip burgers.

Maybe at Burger King: "Have it your way."

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Owen Gingerich, who is the world's leading authority on Copernicus' de Revolutionibus has seen and catalogued virtually every existing first and second edition. There are only a couple of hundred in existence. Many first edition copies which had damaged pages, were repaired with second edition pages. "Improving" an historical document in this manner is called "sophistication" and the resulting document is a "sophisticated lady".

The "sophisticated ladies" are actually worth less than the original document with the damaged pages would have been.

[mvpel]

Misprinted dates in the article notwithstanding, this guy’s reputation as being a historical document expert are toast. Probably could have named his price as a forensic expert for high dollar auction houses, but now couldn’t get hired to flip burgers.

If only he'd lied about gun control instead of Lincoln, he could still get a job as an adjunct lecturer at Connecticut State.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

In academia, there is always redemption for the politically correct.

In 2010, Michael Bellesiles was an adjunct lecturer in history at Central Connecticut State University. His book 1877: America's Year of Living with Violence was published by The New Press.[43] In the introduction he thanked St. Raymond, the patron saint of the falsely accused.[44]