In 1845, Abraham Lincoln tried–and failed–to patent the The Springfield Gazette, a personal paper with striking similarities to our modern day Book of Faces. Here’s the full story.
“He went on to propose that ‘each Man may decide if he shall make his page Available to the entire Town, or only to those with whom he has established Family or Friendship.’ Evidently there was to be someone overseeing this collection of documents, and he would somehow know which pages anyone could look at, and which ones only certain people could see…”
UPDATE: Too good to be true, folks. Here’s an image of the real Springfield Gazette from that date–no Lincoln in sight.
