Pearl Tytell

Pearl Tytell (1917 to 2021) was an American forensic questioned document examiner and handwriting expert. Born Pearl Lily Kessler in Manhattan, she married Martin Tytell in 1943 and with him worked on numerous criminal cases for more than half a century. The couple ran a typewriter rental and repair business in Manhattan, and were often asked to identify the typewriter used for anonymous letters or altered documents. In 1951 she created the Tytell Questioned Document Laboratory, which specialised in dating paper and ink and in studying signatures on cheques, contracts and wills to decide whether they were genuine. She lectured at New York University and taught at the New York Institute of Criminology, and her testimony was decisive in cases including the 1972 Dita Beard memo affair and a claim to be Grand Duchess Anastasia. She was one of few women in the field.