New York

TexasTowelie

(112,124 posts) Mon Feb 19, 2018, 12:00 AM Feb 2018

Washington snipped here? College says it found prez's hair

In this Feb. 14, 2018 photo, a lock of George Washington's hair discovered in an old book at Union College's archives lay on a folded piece of paper at the college's Schenectady, N.Y. campus. John Myers, the college's catalog and metadata librarian, discovered the hair strands in a yellowed envelope he'd found in a grimy old leather-bound almanac in the school's archives. (AP Photo/Mary Esch)

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (AP) — Tucked in the pages of a grimy, leather-bound almanac in the archives at New York's Union College was a tiny envelope with the hand-scrawled words "Washington's hair."

A librarian who had been cataloging old books gingerly opened the yellowed envelope to find a lock of silvery hair tied with a thread.

"It was one of those mind-blowing moments that happen every once in a while in a librarian's life," said John Myers, a catalog and metadata librarian at the college. "I thought, that doesn't mean George Washington, does it?"

It apparently does.

While college officials can't say for sure it's the real deal, the historical evidence is there. The hair was discovered in a pocket-sized almanac for the year 1793 that belonged to Philip J. Schuyler, son of General Philip Schuyler, who served under Washington during the Revolutionary War and founded Union College in 1795.

Read more: http://www.valleymorningstar.com/news/strange_news/washington-snipped-here-college-says-it-found-prez-s-hair/article_9a4f82ee-49b9-50fa-918d-9c3a837c1664.html

My friend who is a professor at Union College would feel fortunate if he still had that much hair.