See The Signs

The History Detectives Team | August 17, 2009 2:00 PM | 6 Responses

This week History Detectives investigated some old letters and their connection to Liberia, Africa. The investigation called on Tukufu Zuberi to examine the letters to determine if a contributor’s ancestor had made it to Liberia from late 19th century America.

If you have a document that needs examination, where can you start?

In most cases you will need to examine a document from three different aspects: historical, scientific and stylistic. However, your approach may change depending on whether you are examining the document for personal or historical reasons, the condition of the document and the conclusions you are hoping to reach.

When analyzing a document historically try and look for clues that can give you a hint about the era. For example, if it is a printed document, such as a greeting card, the printing technique used, address and even the stamp can give you a clue as to its age. If the techniques or materials used do not correspond with the alleged age of your document it is probably a forgery.

Paper analysis is an effective way to examine your document scientifically. There are a wide range of methods you can use ranging from optical magnification to molecular spectroscopy, these can be used independently or combined. You can see some of these methods here.

A qualitative analysis determines what materials are in the paper, a quantative analysis tells you how much, a chemical analysis measures composition and a physical analysis measures the strength, gloss and colour. You can also use an organic analysis to look for carbon based elements such as plant life or animals and an inorganic analysis can look for mineral elements in ink.

Stylistic analysis is undertaken by comparing your document with authentic documents from the region and era you are investigating. You can compare a lot of different things, from penmanship to cultural phrasing. Comparing handwriting can prove if a manuscript or a signature is authentic. You can find out here what handwriting experts look for when trying to identify forgeries.

Where possible try and get a qualified examiner to look at your document, a private examiner, with a good deal of experience, is your best bet. Look for an examiner who is at least a member of one major QDE professional organization. You can use the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners and the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners to find potential candidates.

However, although you can ascertain a lot from examining a document, it may not solve your puzzle. For example, there are five copies of the Gettysburg Address, and although testing has confirmed they are genuine Lincoln documents, no-one knows which one President Lincoln actually read from.

Have you got a document that you’ve examined? What did you discover? Do you have any tips? We would like to know. Let us know in the form below.

You can also join our Facebook group where you can meet other fans and share information.

Find Out More:

Detective Techniques - Document Examination

Handwriting Verification Feature

More Leads

Comments

Several years ago I was given an Native American artifact. It is a red clay storyteller and I was told it dated back to pre-Columbian. I did bring it to Antiques Roadshow and the English appraiser said it was a "tourist item" but gave it a $50.00 value. I have doubts because the storyteller has been broken and superglued together and the appraiser still gave a value of $50.00. The item when turned different ways has several figures, one of which is of a whale fin and another of a Makah(sp) beak which leads me to believe it might be a coastal Indian tribe. Any information you can provide would be helpful and possibly I could return it to the rightful owners of this storyteller.

Posted by Linda Wakefield on August 22, 2009 10:07 PM

i need information on harold nixon born 1914, adopted name james harold barclay? he was adopted in fairfield county, ohio at five weeks old. his birth mother is martha l. nixon. he is my grandfather and i would love to meet the rest of the family. I have been searching for 3 years nowand all i have is the adoption papers. martha l. nixon is from hocking county, ohio. please let me know tips on how to find them or if you have any information please comment.

veronica

Posted by Veronica Louise Coakley on August 20, 2009 8:18 AM

Where can we find the African Colonization Society's manifests of ships and passengers for Liberia that was referred to in Dr. Zuberi's feature yesterday? Thanks.

Posted by Pat on August 18, 2009 12:04 PM

do you have any tips on helping to find my grandfathers real parents?
he was adopted in 1914, and there is no birth certificate to be found anywhere.

Posted by veronica on August 18, 2009 8:26 AM

Mr. Zuberi's last documented find had his subject in Florida, 1902.

Could his subject be a casualty of one of Florida's twentieth-century

hurricanes ?

Where would he look to find out ?

Posted by Nancy B. on August 18, 2009 3:24 AM

hi i have a wilcox quad silver plated double hammer tea pot i think its a teapot.can any one tell me its worth in the silver plate world of antiques

Posted by luis on August 17, 2009 9:39 PM

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