PHS students see CSI up close
PRINCETON — If the weather cooperates, Princeton High School teacher Pam Byrne and the 17 students in her advanced chemistry class will travel to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield today, Tuesday, to see how a forensics investigation really works.
It all began back in August when Byrne heard about an upcoming episode of PBS’ “History Detectives.”
A Tampa, Fla., man had purchased a stack of old photos at a garage sale for $8. Buried in the images was a letter with what appeared to be the signature of Abraham Lincoln. The brief letter, dated Aug. 2, 1858, was addressed to a Whitney, mentioned Owen Lovejoy, and was signed A. Lincoln. Using forensic techniques and speaking with experts in Springfield, the “history detectives” on the program determined the letter to be authentic.
Byrne was hooked when she watched the program, which aired Aug. 27.
“It was like, wow,” she said. “Here’s something local.”
Byrne teaches a unit in forensics to her advanced chemistry students, so she contacted the Springfield library to see if she could bring her students down for a tour. The woman on the phone was very helpful.
“She said, ’Well, we’ve never had this request before,’” Byrne said. “Then she said, ‘We’re willing to work with you.’”
None of Byrne’s students had seen the program, so she had to tell them about it and explain the significance of the letter.
“I said, ‘This is something really cool and exciting,’” she said. “I said, ‘This is local history; it’s something really old, and it fits in with what we’re doing.’ It’s really multidisciplinary because it’s historical.”
Byrne said when she started teaching forensics at PHS, not a lot of people were doing it, but now all the textbooks have a forensics program.
“It’s become so popular because a lot of the kids who don’t like science, when you start talking forensics, then they like it,” she said.
Byrne’s students learn about fingerprinting, hair analysis, documents, soils, and drug and handwriting analysis, and she hopes they get to see some of those techniques while in Springfield.
According to a spokesperson at the library, the class will meet with historians, conservators and researchers on how they authenticate Lincoln documents and historic artifacts. James Cornelius, Bonnie Parr and John Lupton will meet with the group for approximately one hour, discussing the various techniques and instruments they use. The program will also include a tour of the conservation lab and a sneak peak at some items from the library’s collection.
Byrne said she’s lived in this area her entire life, and like most Illinois school children, took a bus trip down to New Salem and the old state capitol. Shortly before hearing about the program, she went back again, and saw the same sights through adult eyes.
“When you get older, you look at some of the connections and tie-ins and it means more,” she said. “That’s why I thought this was really cool. We have an opportunity because not everybody can do this.”
Learn what the students discovered in an upcoming story.
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