Book of Secrets Research Thread - Adam Savage Tested Review

Another insert found. Upon looking through the BTS of the BOS DVD, I noticed an insert as the Propmaster was flipping through the book that mentioned Extra Sensory Perception. The document is from an FBI study on ESP back in 1957. I found the document Ross used. The entry, I would imagine would probably be around the Eisenhower time based on the date of the insert.
 

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Here is the another filler entry for Andrew Jackson. This time seen as the propmaster turns the pages. A quick shot can be seen of this verbiage which is the rough draft of the Andrew Jackson's 2nd inaugural speech. Below is the text.
The will of the American people, expressed through their unsolicited
suffrages, calls me before you to pass through the solemnities preparatory
to taking upon myself the duties of President of the United States for
another term of four years. For their approbation of my administration
through a period which has not been without its difficulties, and for this
renewed expression of their confidence in my good intentions, I find no
adequate terms to express my heart-felt gratitude. It shall be displayed,
to the extent of my humble powers, in continued efforts so to administer
their government as to preserve their liberty and promote their happiness.
So many incidents have occurred within the last four years which have
necessarily called forth, sometimes under circumstances the most delicate
and painful, my views of the principles and policy which ought to be pursued
by the general government, that I need but touch upon them now.
The foreign policy which adopted by our government has generally
pursued since soon after the adoption of the present constitution, has
and very generally pursued by each successive administration has been
crowned with almost complete success, and has elevated our character
among the nations of the earth. To do justice to all and submit to wrong
from none, has been during my administration the its governing maxim,
of foreign policy, and so happy have been its results, that we are not only
at peace with all the world but few causes of controversy, and those of
minor importance, are left to be adjusted.1 Our discussions with foreign
powers will hereafter relate to little else than commercial treaties and
arrangements, having in view the advancement of our trade on terms of
perfect reciprocity with all maratime nations.
 

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Managed to decipher another page. This time for James Garfield. I'm not sure if this is in the BOS because an entry for Garfield is never seen, but they do show several pages on the wall to be used for the book. The one to the far left is a diary entry from March 5, 1877.
I also included the entry from his original diary.
 

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So this is the point in the thread where I ask for help. I've hit up a couple of people here on the forums that have production copies of the Book of Secrets but only got a response from one so it's time to hit up the great multitude of talent on these forums. Attached are images of historical documents, letters, correspondence, etc in the actual production version that I can't decipher or find in any of the historical sites, including the Library of Congress, National Archives, private auctions, etc. They are from James Madison (I think), John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, Woodrow Wilson, and Millard Fillmore. If you know what the text says, have pics of the actual documents, or know where they came from please let me know if you could. I would be eternally grateful to see what you guys come up with.
 

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Today's decipher was another one from the Crafting the Book of Secrets Featurette on the DVD. I can only assume this one made it into the book as well. In this letter, Truman introduces a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. He writes to urge the commandant of the Command & Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to entertain the soldier's idea. In full: “This young man is one on whom I placed the Medal of Honor while I was in the White House. / I'll appreciate it if you will listen to what he has in mind."
 

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Another Truman entry is his note to his wife Bess. You can see this image on Sarednab's site of his production version of the BOS. I've attached the original letter to show the photoshopping that was done by Ross' team. Some of the lines of the letter were duplicated and placed at the top of the entry.
 

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I believe I've sourced another one of the pages. This one appears after the George Washington/Cambray/D-Page Financial Ledger spread. However, this ledger page is on the left instead of the right. I"ve went through the George Washington papers in the Library of Congress, and I believe this is the M Page with the right side photoshopped out. What do you think?
 

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While not a page source, this is, I believe a valid item used to make the production book. Based on images of the end page of the book, I believe the ones used here in the Savage review are nothing more than lined Craft Paper much like what is used for the wrappings on the Grail Diary.
 

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Based on some of the pictures I've seen of the production copy of the BOS I am beginning to wonder if they weren't glue bound with a faux seam used on the edge. This would make more sense considering how many Ross had to produce. Sewing text blocks of signatures for seven books would be tedious and time-consuming. Check out the picture of the unfinished book and let me know what you think. The picture of Ross' book is from the picture in his Prop Man book where he is aging everything. You can see the book in the lower corner unfinished. I zoomed in on it. I've also included examples of what I think he did based on other videos of book binding. Plus based off the last picture, I don't believe he could have over hundred pages in the book and still have over 100 inserts.
 

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In the Savage BOS review you can also see another colored map of
South Dakota. This one is larger and double - folded. Still haven't determined the entries for these two pages.
 

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In a moment of, well.. inspiration, I've decided to create my own BOS. Having watched the movie a few times, I can check "viewing the film" off the list. The next step is watch every video, look at every website, and start documenting. I've started a MS Word file to list everything, but even that will be a big step. I'm listing things in presidential/chronological order. Since the moon landing took place during Nixon's term, for example, those filenames will start with "37_".

Thought I'd start out with the simple stuff: twentieth century photos and docs in the public domain. Two examples: 1) I'm currently cleaning up page 3-69 from the Apollo 11 flight plan. The red "X" marks on the image indicate the location for hole punching. Also, 2) I found the two-astronaut photo on a NASA site. Adam Savage, in the "Tested" video, mentions Capricorn One (a good thought), but the image is from Apollo 11 EVA training conducted just weeks before the real thing. I tinkered with the file a bit. The "original" marking was probably intended to mimic a rubber stamp, but I still need to work on that area, in terms of both font and color. Anyhoo, here's how it looks now.
 

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Holy Cow. I finally found another source for an entry. This time for Woodrow Wilson where Adam Savage shows the Marilyn Monroe Autopsy insert. This is a two page entry and is before Woodrow Wilson was President funnily enough. At the time of this letter, 30-year old Wilson was teaching history and political sciences at Bryn Mawr, his first teaching job.
 

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I believe I've sourced another one of the pages. This one appears after the George Washington/Cambray/D-Page Financial Ledger spread. However, this ledger page is on the left instead of the right. I"ve went through the George Washington papers in the Library of Congress, and I believe this is the M Page with the right side photoshopped out. What do you think?
I agree! Good find!
 
Does anyone know what these two inserts are? I've never seen them in the two books produced here in the forums. I believe the first might be a Shadow Square but can't find a similar image anywhere. And does anyone know who the second photo is of? Both of these popped in the Adam Savages Tested look one of the books the Prop Store was auctioning.
The photo was taken by Paul Tralles and is apparently of a woman named "Charlotte Lewis-Brown" the only reference I can find is an archive on the University of Maryland website, accessed via this link:

https://redirect.cs.umbc.edu/~mayfield/genealogy/pictures/charlotte-lewis-brown
 
Hello, is there someone you have the photo of the Charlotte boat and the spear of destiny photo please ?
 
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