The Case of the Disappearing Documents

AZ_Dawn

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I thought this might be of more interest here that in P&CE. It involves history thieves. :mad:

The Case of the Disappearing Documents

Mr. Landau and an associate, Jason Savedoff, are awaiting federal trial in Baltimore, accused of conspiring to steal irreplaceable historic documents and sell them for profit. Paul Brachfeld, inspector general of the National Archives and Records Administration, says that of the 10,000 pieces removed from Mr. Landau's New York home, at least 2,500 of them—potentially worth millions of dollars—were stolen from historical societies, university libraries and other institutions along the East Coast.
:Jaw:
These guys are ingeneous, I'll give 'em that. It's also a bit scary how easy it was to steal all those documents.
 

pdr

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Argh!

The bastards. It's like our wildlife thieves from America and Germany who keep stealing our geckos and keas. Some people will do anything for money!
 

Shakesbear

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Does not surprise me. Some libraries and archives cannot afford to catalogue everything and/or pay for adequate security.
 

Tom from UK

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adequate security.
All you need to steal documents is a tiny blade. You slice out the pages you want and slip them between the pages of the notebook you had with you.

I've come on journals in university libraries with key pages neatly razored out.

The British Library now insists that you take in only a single clear plastic bag with you and this is searched - but I know that I could sneak stuff out if I really wanted. The only "adequate security" would be at least as tight as airline security and that is expensive and makes life unpleasant and you can still get stuff through if you're determined.

The trouble is that the penalties when people are caught are simply not high enough. People who do this are scum. I really don't care what is done to them, so long as they can't ever do it again.
 

BrianJamesFreeman

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"A prosecutor argued in court that Mr. Savedoff may have flushed a paper down the toilet just before the arrest."

Seriously? He has a room FULL of stolen documents and he thought he could flush them all away before the police arrived, eh? :sigh:

Brian
 

Puma

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Unfortunately, this is a very common occurence all the way down to little community historical societies that have documents ripped off (and don't even have enough staff and time to know it's happened for years.) I don't understand people like this - although I probably understand the thieves moreso than the people who are willing to buy the documents. Don't they even wonder about how the thieves got them or where the documents came from? Puma
 

Desert Author

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More security coming

Great! Now they'll be increasing security. Next time I go down to the AZ Historical Society I can look forward to taking off my shoes and belt, throwing my change and keys in the plastic bin and going through a body scan. Of course, once inside I'll feel a lot safer.
 

Dave Hardy

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The Ransom Center at UT had a volunteer who stole perhaps several hundred items and sold about a dozen. Although the thief was dismissed in 1992, they didn't realize theft was involved until nine years later.
Perpetrator of Book Theft at Harry Ransom Center Sentenced

The book Texfake by Thomas Taylor has a lot of curious accounts of theft & forgery of Texana. Archives are often targets of these sorts of crimes.
 

AZ_Dawn

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Next time I go down to the AZ Historical Society I can look forward to taking off my shoes and belt, throwing my change and keys in the plastic bin and going through a body scan. Of course, once inside I'll feel a lot safer.
You certainly won't be allowed to wear a Matrix-length coat there anymore. :D Though somehow I doubt state or local government would shell out the money for a scanner.
 

Puma

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I don't know about that. Our county in Ohio (and not one of the major metropolitan ones, just next to a metropolitan one), has the equivalent of old, pre 9/11 airport security at the county offices building. Puma
 

Captain Scarf

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The National Archives at Kew Gardens (London) also has a see-through bag policy and searches through it to make sure you're not smuggling stuff in or out. You're not even allowed a pencil sharpener because you could use the blade.

I have heard of cases of unscrupulous historians sneaking manufactured documents INTO the archives to try and prove their arguments.
 

Kitti

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The biggest thing is that they have to search your computers, too. The easiest way to sneak something in or out, otherwise, is to put it on your keyboard and then close your laptop.

Honestly, tho, all this really only deters the amateurs. Have a lot of papers, sneak out at a high traffic time (say, just before lunch)... And if anyone wants proof of the fallibility of certain systems - say, the BL - just look at the idiots who somehow manage to wander in with bottles of orange juice and highlighters. Grrrr. I don't want to go back to the days when I had to sell my first-born just to get access to certain libraries, but I do miss when my rare book rooms weren't filled with Facebooking coeds.