Outgoing President of Lycoming College Finds Document Signed by Lincoln

Posted on June 14, 2013

James Douthat, the president to Lycoming College, is retiring after twenty four years on the job. He was clearing out his office when he discovered a a framed document stuck at the back of the office closet. The document was a long-missing document that no one in the college knew still existed. Douthat found a framed certificate signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 that named the college's founder a Civil War chaplain.

Douthat explained, "When I took it down, of course I recognized Lincoln's signature immediately. I assume it was in the top of the closet 24 years ago. I had never seen it." The document is also signed by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Similar documents have sold for $11,000 and more, but the college is hanging on to its piece of history. The AP reports: