According to a January 24, 2011 press release from The National Archives in Washington, D.C., a pardon signed by President Abraham Lincoln has been discovered to have been altered by a Lincoln researcher. Thomas Lowry has now admitted to this unbelievable deed during an investigation by the Archives and has forever been banned from using any research facility operated by that institution.
The pardon in question was for a Union soldier put to court-martial for desertion. Patrick Murphy, the soldier in question, was pardoned by President Lincoln on April 14, 1864 and spared punishment execution, due to Murphy's "insanity." But that date wasn't good enough for Lowry, who wrote a "5" over the "4" in "1864" to make it look like this act by Lincoln might have been the very last official act of his life on April 14, 1865. He did this in order to achieve notoriety and fame as having been the "discoverer" of perhaps the last thing Lincoln ever wrote. According to the press release and accompanying video, Lowry was also immediately "raised" to the "upper echelons" of Lincoln researchers and historians with this supposed discovery.
Lowry then parlayed this "discovery" into a book titled "Don't Shoot That Boy: Abraham Lincoln and Military Justice" which was published in 1999. He also went on to write other books, all resulting from this "fame."
Words fail me in trying to describe the damage Lowry has perpetrated here. Obviously he has physically altered, perhaps forever, a document written in Lincoln's hand. Specialists at the Archives are trying now to determine if this "5" can be removed without further damaging the pardon.
More importantly, Lowry actually rewrote history for at least the past 12 years. By claiming Lincoln wrote something on April 14, 1865 when that was not true, Lowry misled the public, other researchers, and news organizations.
Lowry, through this act of greed and selfishness, has obliterated his reputation. If he was willing to do such a terrible thing to one document, then who knows what else he did in producing "research" for his own gain? Please don't think that I feel sorry for him, because I don't. What he did was utterly reprehensible.
The National Archives itself has to accept some of the responsibility for not catching this alteration far earlier. The video provided in the press release specifically mentions the The Collected Works Of Abraham Lincoln as the reference which was used to prove that this pardon was written in 1864, and not 1865. That set of 9 volumes has been in existence since 1953 and is the best reference for everything which Lincoln ever wrote. Why did no National Archives historian consult this resource immediately to confirm what Lowry claimed back in the 1990's? This pardon had not been "lost" to history. It was documented in the Collected Works when the reference set was published. I just found it in my own copy of the reference set in a manner of seconds. Had some care been taken, this alteration of an historic document could have been found immediately.
Unfortunately, Lowry cannot be prosecuted for his crime(s). According to the press release, the statute of limitations has expired, and all the National Archives can do is take the action I mentioned earlier in this post.
Historians, professional and amateur alike, must always strive for accuracy. This lone "researcher," Thomas Lowry, was permitted to alter history for more than a decade. What he did was unconscionable. But it is also unthinkable that he got away with this act of deception for so long. Hopefully, the National Archives will learn to have better controls in the future on researchers so nothing like this ever happens again.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Lincoln Record Changed At National Archives
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6 comments:
This is all very sad.
It is sad, but it's more infuriating than it is sad. Of course, it's infuriating that this man did such a thing. But it's also highly upsetting that no one in the Archives or within the Lincoln community of scholars thought to check on this "discovery" back in 1998. It wouldn't have taken more than a couple of minutes to do so.
It also has the creep factor and ranks a 10 out of 10 on the creep-o-meter. Altering the hand-writing of a deceased person, whether that person be humble or famous, there's something horribly wrong about it. And let's not forget that the written word - the physically written word - had such incredible import back then, because writing, oration, and speaking had an entirely different place even in every day communication. That's all there WAS. Probably accounts for why people were so much better at it, too, but I digress.
Bottom line is, it's vandalism, fraud, and the defacing of protected documents. How did this guy sleep at night? I can't understand how there is a statute of limitations on this. It should be a federal crime in such an instance. What a turd.
Which brings me to one last thing: how and why are "scholars" left alone with such things? I don't care who they are, there should be a watchdog on the watchdog. Just sayin'.
Yes, "Mini", you have to wonder why someone is left alone with a document written by Lincoln or any historical figure. Let's hope the Archives changes its policy.
The guy obviously has no conscience. But this "discovery" vaulted him into the upper echelons of Lincoln scholarship. He even was published in this year's book from The Lincoln Forum, a prestigious organization consisting of Lincoln experts.
Now his credibility is shattered. Or it should be, at least.
It is such a disgrace that he got away with this for so long. He's giving historians a bad name, even though hopefully he is the exception. I am just shocked that no one at the Archives caught this. Just looking at images of the document, it seems really obvious that it was altered.
This is absolutely heartbreaking
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