Discovering A Rare Revere

I'll admit it: I once dug behind my house to find buried colonial shillings. Why? Because I was eleven and National Treasure had sparked my continuing thirst of knowledge and love for history.

Which is why this story, featured in the New York Times, is so freaking awesome to me:

A few weeks ago, Ms. Malchodi opened yet another leather-bound book, one of more than 300,000 rare volumes in the hold of the John Hay Library. With surgical precision, she turned the pages of a medical text once owned by Solomon Drowne, Class of '73 (1773, that is). And there, in the back, she found a piece of paper depicting the baptism of Jesus. It was signed: 

"P. Revere Sculp" 

The document was indeed legitimate. Paul Revere, of Lexington-Concord fame, designed, printed and signed the piece of paper Ms. Malchodi of Brown University's library conservation team discovered one quiet Thursday morning in the school's basement.

Be sure to read the entire story. It's well worth the time.

P.S. - As for my search for colonial shillings? I never did find one a whole two feet below the dirt, rock and glass shard infested earth my childhood home sat upon, but I did draw a map on the back of my Declaration of Independence leading to the treasure that would make Benjamin Franklin Gates, Nicholas Cage's character, very wealthy in National Treasure.