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College Student Discovers Legal Documents Written By Lincoln

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- A college student from Gurnee has quite a story to tell about what he is doing over his summer vacation.

As WBBM Newsradio 780's Regine Schlesinger reports, David Spriegel, 21, who just finished his junior year at St. Mary's University in Minnesota, is spending the summer as an intern at the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum in Springfield.

As he was sifting through stack of donated papers to enter them into a database, he came across two legal documents, written by hand by Lincoln himself.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Regine Schlesinger reports

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The 167-year-old papers represent a rare historical find. Lincoln scholars since have determined they are authentic.

Museum spokesman David Blanchett tells the Daily Herald that such a discovery as the one Spriegel made is usually the work of a research with years of experience.

As for Spriegel, an aspiring librarian, he tells the newspaper he can't wait to tell his professors back at school about his experience.

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