Can you tell a forgery from a facsimile, or either one from the real thing? Fakes, forgeries, and reproductions have always been part of the documentary record, long before a chatbot could produce a convincing letter on demand. Generative AI has changed the speed and scale at which false documents can be made, but it has not changed the questions we ask of a suspicious one.  

This hands-on workshop places items from Rare Books and Special Collections, with a focus on the Joseph N. Nathanson Collection of Lincolniana, next to facsimiles and AI-generated documents. Participants will examine each item’s material features, its description, and its provenance, then sort into categories more useful than “real” and “fake.” Most participants will be fooled at least once. Everyone will leave knowing why, and with a set of questions they can put to any source, on paper or on a screen. 

Workshop image generated with Microsoft Copilot.