ASQDE Library

What about forensic document examiners?

For the Glove of Preservation Discover the truth about wearing white cotton gloves when handling artifacts in museums and archives. Learn why gloves may not always be necessary and can even cause damage.

Did you miss last week's webinar?

It's now available on-demand through our website: https://fosterfreeman.com/webinars/

Earliest Surviving Photograph
Celebrating photography includes celebrating the many brilliant scientists, inventors, and innovators who have contributed to the field of photography over the past 200 years. We often cite 1839 as the year photography was invented because it was the year that Daguerre and Talbot both announced their photo processes to the world. But Daguerre was working with Niépce who, in 1827, produced the earliest known camera-made photograph to survive today. You can see this original photograph in person at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas!


The Niépce Heliograph, made in 1827, is the earliest photograph produced with the aid of the camera obscura known to survive today. It is currently on view at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas.

From Archival Methods.com

https://balyozdavasivegercekler.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/ek-1_bilirkisi-ozgecmis.pdf

balyozdavasivegercekler.com

Grant Sperry at the USACIL.

https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/10485

Grant R. Sperry
ASQDE President - 2002-2004
Grant R. Sperry was the 27th President of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners.​

Grant R. Sperry began his career in law enforcement in 1970 in the Military Police Corps.

After performing duties as a military policeman, military working dog instructor, military police investigator, and while serving as a CID Special Agent, he applied and was accepted for training as a forensic document examiner at the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory.

Mr. Sperry completed his two-year in-residence training as a forensic document examiner in 1980.
​As a forensic document examiner in the U.S. Army Crime Labs, he worked at the laboratory in Georgia and served as the Chief Document Examiner for the laboratory in Germany.

He retired from the U.S. Army after 22 years to take a position as a forensic document examiner with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's (USPIS) forensic laboratory in Memphis. He was with the USPIS laboratory as a forensic document examiner and manager until 2006, when he left for private practice.

Prior to his election as President, Mr. Sperry served as Treasurer and Vice President of the Society. He is credited with advancing the Society through the initiation of the Society's web site and the rendering of annual meeting papers to digital media. He has also served the Society as web editor, curator, program chairman, resource committee chairman, and Editor of the Journal of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners.

Mr. Sperry is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), past member of the Forensic Science Foundation's Board of Trustees, a member of the Southeastern Association of Forensic Document Examiners, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners.

In 1998, he received the AAFS QD Section's Ordway Hilton Award.

In 2013, Mr. Sperry was the recipient of the Albert S. Osborn Award of Excellence in recognition of his many contributions to the ASQDE and the profession of forensic document examination.

He is the author of a number of published articles and professional papers.

Mr. Sperry is currently in private practice, and is a Life Member of the ASQDE.

https://www.iampeth.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=765903&module_id=652783

Gideon Epstein
ASQDE President - 1992-1994
Gideon Epstein was the 22nd President of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners.​

Gideon Epstein received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nebraska and a Masters of Forensic Science degree from the Antioch School of Law.

Mr. Epstein has been in the field of forensic document examination since completing his two-year course of study with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory in 1969.

At the time of his retirement from the U.S. Army in 1978, he was the Chief of the Questioned Document Division. He later served as a Senior Forensic Document Examiner with the National Laboratory Center, Bureau of Alcohol To***co and Fi****ms.
He established the Immigration and Naturalization Service Forensic Document Laboratory in 1980 and served as the Chief Forensic Document Examiner until his retirement in 2000, when he entered private practice in Rockville, Maryland.​

He is well known as an instructor in forensic document examination, having taught at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, George Washington University, as well a number of countries outside of the United States. He is also well known for his work on war crime cases from World War II, including the Josef Mengele war crimes investigation and the John Demjanjuk case.

He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

The 82nd Annual General Meeting will be three full days of learning and networking on August 26-28, 2024 at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead, 3300 Peachtree Road, NE, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Make your reservations now using our special conference rates.

Consider arriving by Sunday afternoon, Aug. 25 so you can check in to your room and then pick up your conference packet in the meeting area between 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. (EST). You’ll save time Monday morning when the conference begins.

Conference registration is now open. https://www.asqde.org/2024.html

James V. P. Conway
ASQDE President - 1988-1990
James V. P. Conway was the 20th President of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners.​

Mr. Conway attended St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania from 1931 to 1934 where his studies included German and Greek script.

During the period 1935 to 1936 he studied penmanship under the direction of a master penman at Cambria-Rowe Business College in Greensburg, PA.

From 1936 to 1938, he received training in the field of questioned document examination under the direction of the Chief Postal Inspector, the National Bureau of Standards and other government laboratories.
During his employ with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Mr. Conway served as an Examiner of Questioned Documents, a Postal Inspector-Document Analyst, Crime Laboratory Director, Executive Assistant to the Postmaster General, Senior Assistant Postmaster General, Deputy Postmaster General and occupied a position on the agency’s Board of Governors.

In 1980, he received the Benjamin Franklin Award, the highest award presented by the U.S. Postal Service.
​
Beginning in 1940, Mr. Conway qualified as an expert witness in federal, state, military, and territorial courts, grand juries and other judicial matters on over 600 occasions, testifying in virtually every aspect of forensic document examination.

In 1959, he authored Evidential Documents, a standard textbook for anyone seeking to become a Forensic Document Examiner. He retired from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in 1980 after more than thirty years with that agency to open a private practice in Alameda, California.
​
In 1961, Mr. Conway, David Purtell, and Alwyn Cole were the first three government examiners invited into the membership of the ASQDE. Mr. Conway served in various positions on the ASQDE Executive Committee prior to being elected President in 1988.

He also served as a Director of the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners.

In February 2000, he received the Distinguished Fellow Award from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

In February 2001, James V. P. Conway was presented the inaugural Albert S. Osborn Award of Excellence for the year 2000, in recognition of his many contributions to the profession of forensic document examination.

The Indiana State Library is introducing a new blog created for newspaper archivists and librarians. It's intended to fill the void resulting from the lack scholarly journal articles and scientific studies on the subject of newspaper preservation. Check it out here: https://newspaperpreservation.isl.in.gov/

https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/oles/Forensic_Handwriting_Examinations_Osborn_final.pdf

John F. McCarthy
ASQDE President - 1986-1988
John F. McCarthy was the 19th President of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners.​

John Francis Patrick McCarthy was born in 1918.

In 1949, he received a Master of Science in Mathematics from Columbia University.

During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces in Europe and was a navigator on a B-24 bomber.

His decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and the Purple Heart. For his service, he also received the New York State Conspicuous Service Cross. ​
After the war, he served with the New York State Police. While there, he trained as a questioned document examiner and became Assistant Director of the New York State Crime Laboratory.

In 1968, he was employed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and retired in 1990 as the Chief Document Examiner.
​
Prior to serving as President, Mr. McCarthy served the ASQDE as Secretary-Treasurer, a Director, and the newsletter editor.

He was a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners and served on the board of that organization.

He was the author of numerous journal articles and professional papers.

Mr. McCarthy passed away in 2001, and was buried in The National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

​
Derived from the article "ASQDE Remembers John F. McCarthy" by Janis M. Wi******er in the November 2001 issue of The Society News.

Haas Typewriter Atlas & Catalog on DVD

The Haas Typewriter Atlas & Catalog was created (in binder form) by Josef Haas and his work was continued by his son Bernhard Haas.

Now in an agreement with Bernhard Haas, the ASQDE has made available the Haas Typewriter Atlas & Catalog on DVD.

This atlas contains images of type font specimens, essentially organized by Pica and Non-Pica (e.g. courier, elite, script, etc.).

The Haas Catalog is organized by typewriter name and includes type font manufacturer information, original manufacturer information, serial numbers of the machines used in preparing the related strike ups in the Haas Typewriter Atlas, etc.

​The Haas Typewriter Atlas and Catalog are cross-referenced resources.​

How to order

Use the online form below to order your copy of the Haas Atlas DVD.

Payment is processed through PayPal, but you do not need a PayPal account to make payment.

If you have questions, please contact the ASQDE Executive Assistant.

https://www.asqde.org/haas-typewriter-atlas.html

Haas Atlas
The Haas-Atlas is being used for the identification of Typescripts

Excerpt from a paper that was presented by Bernhard Haas and Dr. Peter Baier at the 43rd annual meeting of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners in the year 1986.

https://schriftexperte.de/en/haas-atlas/

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/the-talk-of-the-town

Serif Sleuth
By Warren St. John
July 28, 1996

https://blogs.lib.unc.edu/ncm/2010/01/16/anonymous-no-more-thanks-to-n-c-sleuth/

The Talk Of The Town © 2024 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except wit...

Irish writing characteristics
Maureen Casey Owens
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0379-0738(97)00160-6
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American Academy of Forensic Sciences Award named for Maureen Casey-Owens

Maureen Casey-Owens Award Recipient Section NewsMaureen Casey-Owens Award RecipientApril 07, 2023Source: James A. Green, BS, Section Chair, Questioned DocumentsShareShare on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on LinkedInThe American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) Questioned Documents Section presents the Maureen Casey-Owens Award to h...

Maureen Casey Owens
ASQDE President - 1984-1986
Maureen Casey Owens was the 18th President of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners.​

Ms. Owens began her career in questioned document examination at the Chicago Police Department laboratory where she trained under David Purtell.

She worked at the Chicago laboratory for 25 years, including 13 years as the chief document examiner.

In 1987, while still working for the Chicago Police Department, she began a private practice.
Maureen moved her private practice to Wilmington, North Carolina in the 1990's.
​
She is a Life Member of the ASQDE, and a Retired Fellow and Past President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS). She is the only person to ever simultaneously hold the presidency of the ASQDE and the AAFS.

She is a Past Chair of the Questioned Document Section of the AAFS.
​
In 1987, Ms. Owens received the Ordway Hilton Award, given by the AAFS Questioned Document Section.

She was a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners and served as a Director of the ABFDE.

On August 20, 2008, she received the Albert S. Osborn Award of Excellence in recognition of her distinguished career and her many contributions to both the ASQDE and the profession of forensic document examination.

Among Ms. Owens' many cases, her examinations identified the anonymous writer of the novel Primary Colors and demonstrated that the purported diary of Jack the Ripper was not authentic.

She is the author of numerous published articles and professional papers, including "IBM Correcting Selectric Typewriter: An Analysis of the Utilization of the Correctable Film Ribbon in the Alteration of Typewritten Documents," Journal of Forensic Sciences, 1976.

https://blogs.lib.unc.edu/ncm/2010/01/16/anonymous-no-more-thanks-to-n-c-sleuth/

‘Anonymous’ no more, thanks to N.C. sleuth – NC Miscellany ‘Anonymous’ no more, thanks to N.C. sleuth On this day in 1996 Random House published “Primary Colors,” a roman a clef based on the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign. It quickly sold more than a million copies in hardback. The author remained “Anonymous” until a document examiner in Wil...

Maureen Casey-Owens

Preservation Month

Digitizing family pictures and photographs can be a safe and efficient way to view and share items long term; however, it is crucial to handle them carefully to avoid loss. Considerations include ensuring the original images fit on the scanner surface, using a copy stand for books, and avoiding automatic feed scanners for fragile or valuable papers.

For more recommendations when digitizing family records, visit our preservation page:
https://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/digitizing

National Archives Digital Imaging Lab staff, December 2, 2005.
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/66798226

Would you like an auction of Resource Center extras in Atlanta?

Should Experienced Document Examiners Write Inconclusive Reports
Philip L. Schmitz
1969

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology | Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology is a student-run publication at Northwestern University School of Law that prints four issues annually and rests upon a century of scholarship devoted to the scientific study of criminal law and criminology. Since its inception in 1910, the Journal strives to ca...

Philip L. Schmitz
ASQDE President - 1974-1976
Philip L. Schmitz was the 13th President of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners.​

Mr. Schmitz was born in Minnesota in 1917. He completed a bachelor's degree at St. Thomas College (now the University of St. Thomas) in 1939.

He initially went to work in the typewriter industry, but was soon hired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation where he trained in the FBI Laboratory to become a questioned document examiner.

During World War II, he volunteered for military service and became an lieutenant on the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines. He was also assigned to a war crimes investigation detachment.
After the war, Mr. Schmitz became a questioned document examiner with the Veteran's Administration, Washington, DC, eventually becoming the chief of the document laboratory. In, 1969, he established a document laboratory for the Social Security Administration in Baltimore, Maryland.
​
Mr. Schmitz retired from government service in 1974 and entered private practice.
Philip Schmitz became a Regular Member of the ASQDE in 1965 and was later elected to Life Membership. He served as the secretary for the Society prior to becoming president.

Mr. Schmitz was also the Chairman of the Questioned Document Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and was a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners.

He authored a number of published articles and professional papers, such as "Anonymous Letters," published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences and "Should Experienced Document Examiners Write Inconclusive Reports," published in the Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science.

Mr. Schmitz passed away in 2018.

http://www.hyatt.com/en-US/group-booking/ATLGH/G-ASQD

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Who invented Post-it Notes?

As a new product development researcher at 3M, Inductee Arthur Fry co-developed with Spencer Silver this bestselling office supply, keeping our reminders, lists and creative ideas top-of-mind since 1980. https://bit.ly/41wN6xg