The oldest existing manuscripts in Abraham Lincoln’s own hand are pages from an arithmetic copybook that Lincoln created in the mid‐1820s while living in Indiana. Lincoln’s stepmother Sarah Lincoln gave the copybook to his third law partner, William H. Herndon, after Lincoln’s death in 1865. Herndon subsequently distributed the pages among friends and acquaintances. Ten pages or partial pages from the copybook are known to have survived and were published in facsimile form in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln in 1953. When Stowell and Research Associate Kelley Clausing scanned Lincoln‐related documents at the University of Chicago’s Regenstein Library in November 2009, they began the process that led to the reunion of two parts of a page from the copybook. Among the items they scanned was a fragment of approximately seven inches wide by seven and one half inches tall with math problems on one side and a series of questions and answers on the reverse. While processing the images at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library later, Stowell discovered that the fragment fit neatly with a smaller fragment that the project had scanned at the John Hay Library at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in 2003. Although the fragment from Brown University had been published in the Collected Works, the other portion of the page at the University of Chicago had not. Using the digital images, Stowell compared the fragments and digitally reunited them into a single image for the front and another for the back of the page.
“This new discovery revives a part of what was lost to scholars when William Herndon dissected Lincoln’s ‘sum book’ and portioned it out in pieces to libraries and collectors as a memento of Lincoln. We are grateful to the Papers of Abraham Lincoln for their detective work, which restores the context of Brown University’s own fragment of this earliest known written work by Abraham Lincoln. It is our hope that this effort will underscore the benefits of the growing body of digital scholarship on Lincoln,” said Brown University North American History Librarian Holly Snyder.

Further research revealed that the questions and answers were from The Schoolmaster’s Assistant, Being a Compendium of Arithmetic, Both Practical and Theoretical in Five Parts by Thomas Dilworth. The math problems on the back of the sheet were from the “Examples” section of the same publication. Both the questions and the problems related to the “Single Rule of Three,” a mathematical method for solving proportions. Dilworth’s volume was first published in London in the 1740s. An American edition appeared in 1769, and additional American editions appeared regularly for the next sixty years. Which edition Lincoln may have used to create his copybook remains  unknown.

The reunited images, as well as other images of Lincoln documents, may be seen at http://www.papersofabrahamlincoln.org/New_Documents.htm.

During his six years as Editor in Chief of the project, Ted published ten letterpress volumes ‐ Presidential Series, volumes 13, 14, 15, and 16; Revolutionary War Series, volumes 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20. A digital team was also created during his tenure to work in conjunction with Rotunda on the production of the Papers of George Washington Digital Edition, which currently contains fifty‐nine volumes and a cumulative index. Ted also laid the groundwork for numerous projects, some of which include: the George Washington Bibliography project, in conjunction with the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University; the Financial Papers project, including a conference of premier scholars at Mount Vernon; and the institution of new Travel and Learn Continuing Education courses that will start in 2011 with a tour of the sites of the 1775‐1776 siege of Boston, followed by Trenton‐Princeton, and then the 1777 campaign.

The list of accomplishments could go on, as Ted was extremely dedicated the Project and staff. Instead, I thought it best to include comments from a few of the editors.

Assistant Editor Carol Ebel notes that “Ted enthusiastically launched several new editorial and outreach efforts. I worked with him closely on ‘The Civility Project: Where George Washington Meets the Twenty‐first Century’ which focused on the 110 rules of behavior Washington prized to highly. Ted used the Civility Project to encourage debate about social attitudes during the eighteenth century and our own time, a topic which continues to engage the interest of both academic and public history circles. Most importantly, the ‘Civility Project’ served as an avenue through which university students nationwide engaged in a dialogue about Washington’s character and pondered civil behavior as it applied to their role as the upcoming generation of citizens and leaders.”

Tom Dulan, the Project’s copy editor, comments “Ted’s tenure at the helm of PGW has intrinsically reshaped the project, and his legacy will be evident even in the project’s final act as our repository is moved to Mount Vernon. Everything from expanded fundraising efforts to broader access through digitization bears his fingerprints, right down to the fundamental tools we now use in producing our print editions. The print editions themselves have seen changes that include the addition of endpaper maps and volume introductions. The joint effort between print and digital to produce a cumulative index, the launch of the financial papers project, the Travel & Learn initiative, and the Civility Project all are part of his legacy as well. On a personal note (and a personnel note), I have to express my deep appreciation that he hired me in the first place and has been consistently fair‐handed and supportive as my supervisor. I always will look fondly upon these four‐plus years, and I wish Ted the very best in his retirement and any future endeavors.”

Ed Lengel, Professor and Senior Editor, notes that “after six years as Editor in Chief, Ted Crackel leaves the project running at a greater level of efficiency and collegiality than I have ever seen it before. The numerous initiatives that he has promoted in scholarship and outreach have enabled our editors to engage productively not only with the scholarly community but with the American public at large‐‐thus fulfilling one of our core missions, to promote knowledge and appreciation of our nation’s most important historical figure. Ted’s legacy, embodied in exciting new projects such as the George Washington Bibliography project and the Financial Papers project, will be long lasting.”

Associate Editor Bill Ferraro states that “I am most appreciative of Ted Crackel’s support for activities broadly related to the main task of editing documents. For instance, he facilitated my examination of the collections at the Library of Congress and Georgetown University on John C. Fitzpatrick, editor of the Writings of Washington, which are now being supplanted by the Papers of George Washington. Learning how Fitzpatrick approached his editorial work allows me to make the best possible use of that earlier effort as I address my own editing, and that knowledge has given me the capacity to develop publishable pieces on documentary editing’s past, such as “The AHA and the George Washington Bicentennial in 1932,” Perspectives on History: Newsmagazine of the American Historical Association, 47 (Oct. 2009), 55‐
56.”

I too feel fortunate to have worked with Ted these past six years. His enthusiasm for the digital edition made it the wonderful resource it is today and set the standard for future work. Ted never settled for anything less than perfection, but always encouraged creative thinking and experimentation. The resulting digital edition and forthcoming financial papers are things I am extremely proud of, and know it couldn’t have happened without his involvement. We all wish Ted the best in his retirement!