This kind of thing just makes me sick.
A state archivist was charged Monday with stealing hundreds of artifacts — documents representing “the heritage of all Americans,”according to the history buff who found some of them on eBay — to pay his household bills. Yahoo article here.
How was this discovered,you ask? NYT Article:History Buff Uncovers Theft of American History Treasures
When I think about the irreplaceable items that have been entrusted to my care,and to the care of other archivists,I feel a sense of pride and of responsibility. To think that an archivist would betray that public trust is upsetting,and frankly,disturbing,to me.
How did this archivist know what to steal? He literally wrote the book. Daniel Lorello was the author of The Union Preserved:A Guide to Civil War Documents in the New York State Archives. Knowing the value of these documents to collectors and historians,he was caught while selling a letter written by John C. Calhoun on eBay.
Best of luck today and in the coming weeks to our friends at the New York State Archives as they try to discern what was stolen,and attempt to recover lost items.
[...] $129,500 in restitution for stealing documents and selling them to collectors. As you may recall from an earlier post,Lorello was considered to be an expert in Civil War documents,and authored The Union Preserved:A [...]