George Washington's hair found tucked in old book in New York library

Strands of the first US president’s hair thought to have been gift to book’s owner from James Alexander Hamilton, son of the famous Treasury secretary

A researcher at the Schaffer Library in New York has discovered what is believed to be a lock of George Washington’s hair inside an 18th-century almanac. The strands are thought to have been given to the book’s owner by the son of Alexander Hamilton, the first US secretary of the Treasury immortalised in the hit musical that bears his name.

Archivist Daniel Michelson found the copy of Gaines Universal Register or American and British Kalendar for the year 1793 while digging through the oldest books held in the Schaffer Library, part of Union College in Schenectady, New York. Within the covers of the book, which is believed to have belonged to Philip Schuyler, son of one of Union College’s founders, General Philip Schuyler, he discovered a series of Philip Schuyler’s handwritten notes on topics including how to “preserve beef for summer’s use”.

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