RBMS Security Committee: Theft Reports 2005
This is a list of incidents reported in the public media and on open listservs, such as Exlibris. The "Incidents of Theft" list was begun in 1987 and is updated by a member of the RBMS Security Committee. Although known to be incomplete, the list does provide an indication of the extent and variety of reported and alleged thefts. For reports in the Exlibris electronic discussion list since April 1991, consult the list archives.
The following list contains notices of thefts that occurred or were reported from January 2005 to December 2005. For additional coverage or for information on how to report notices for possible inclusion on the list, please consult the cumulative index.
2005
December 2005
A Bowdoin Library patron was issued a trespass warning and banned from the Bowdoin campus following an incident in which the patron was suspected of tearing-out maps from library material. Damaged material had been discovered previously in the basement stacks and a pile of library materials was found hidden behind shelved books. The material consisted primarily of turn-of-the-century government documents, depicting National Parks and other American territories. The patron had been observed acting suspiciously and was approached both by the director of security at Bowdoin and the Brunswick police, who questioned the patron. Although no material was found on the patron, the director of security suspected he was responsible for the previous mutilation of library material.
Source: Exlibris electronic discussion list (21 December 2005).
Donald E. Eckard, a 70-year-old advertising executive, has been charged with nine felony counts of art theft following the alleged theft of material from the Filson Historical Society between July 25, 2003, and August 3, 2004. Eckard is charged withe stealing nine articles of cultural heritage, each valued at $5,000 or more. The material stolen is: (1) letter from William Clark to Green Clay, dated July 9, 1799; (2) letter from William Clark to Green Clay, dated September 17, 1801; (3) letter from Andrew Johnson to Don Carlos Buell, dated August 24, 1862; (4) letter from Jefferson Davis to John Letcher, dated April 19, 1861; (5) letter from John Quincy Adams to James Hamlett, dated December 5, 1832; (6) letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Carmichael and William Short, dated March 18, 1792; (7) letter from Thomas Jefferson to William Carmichael and William Short, dated April 24, 1792; (8) letter from Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Flournoy, dated January 24, 1819; and (9) letter from Andrew Jackson to Isaac Shelby, dated July 31, 1818.
Source: Museum Security Network (8 December 2005) discussion list.
November 2005
Matthew Brooke was charged in the theft of a bound volume of the Pennsylvania Evening Post newspaper from the Wisconsin Historical Society Library in Madison. The volume, valued at $3,000-$5,000, contained issues of the newspaper from January to April 1777. Brooke is charged with breaking into the glass bookcase where the volume was displayed and concealing the volume in his pants.
Source: American Libraries, November 2005.
Two rare editions of the Book of Mormon printed in the 1840s have been reported missing from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Institute near the University of Utah. The safe in which the material was housed was discovered missing. It is suspected the safe was taken sometime between Oct. 24 and Nov. 8. The 1840 edition is valued at $35,000 and the 1841 edition at $25,000.
Source: Story by Justin Hill from The Salt Lake Tribune of November 11, 2005, posted on Exlibris electronic discussion list.
A notebook belonging to the late Finnish writer Mika Waltari was recovered after having been stolen from the Päivälehti Museum's 60th Anniversary Exhibition of Waltari's novel The Egyptian . Sureveillance showed two men breaking into a locked glass cabinet and taking the notebook. Authorities suspect the publicity generated from the theft led to the return of the material.
Source: CPProt and Exlibris electronic discussion lists, November 11, 2005, citing a story by Dean Calcott on the www.helsinginsanomat.fi web site.
September 2005
Crystina J. Stephens and Larry L. Miler, Jr. were sentenced to pay $20,000 jointly to Prince George's County (Maryland) Memorial Library System for the theft of 483 books, which they then sold to used-book stores in the area. The couple were caught in February while attempting to sell library material to a store in College Park, Maryland and pleaded guilty to felony theft on August 3.
Source: American Libraries, September 2005.
August 2005
A rare book missing from the archives of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES) of Addis Ababa University (AAU) was discovered for sale in the local Merkato market. The book, Goglia Luigi's Storia Fotografica Dell Impero Fascista , a are and unique pictorial book, was recovered by the University.
Source: CPProt and Exlibris electronic discussion lists, August 27, 2005, citing a story by Bahru Temesgen from The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa), of August 24, 2005.
On August 9th, E. Forbes Smiley III, of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, pleaded not guilty in New Haven (Connecticut) Superior Court to three counts of first-degree larceny. Smiley has been charged with the theft of maps valued at $900,000 from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. A number of other institutions have also reported maps missing from their collections, including the British Library, the Newberry Library in Chicago and the New York Public Library. SEE UPDATE
Source: American Libraries, September 2005.
July 2005
Hundreds of rare photographs have gone missing from the National Library of Brazil. It is suspected the photographs disappeared during a strike of Ministry of Culture workers, who were responsible for the material. During the strike, a temporary security service was employed which had access to the building where the material was held. The works of at least four photographers, Marc Ferrez, August Stahl, Guillermo Liebenau and Benjamin Mulock, were identified as some of the material missing.
Source: Article by Maia Menezes from O Globo newspaper, Rio de Janeiro, July 20, 2005 (in Portuguese).
Two Christchurch, New Zealand men have been sentenced for their roles in the theft of library material from university and public libraries throughout New Zealand (see previous theft reports from April 2005 and September 2004). Norman William Holloway and Lee Simpson were part of an organized effort to steal library material and later sell it over the internet or through book dealers. Holloway was sentenced to two years and three months and Simpson for three years.
Source: CPProt and Exlibris electronic discussion lists, July 15, 2005, citing a story by Dean Calcott on the www.stuff.co.nz web site.
Four 20-year-olds charged in the theft of rare books and art from the Transylvania University Library valued at $500,000 , pleaded guilty April 21 in U.S. District Court (see previous theft report from February 2005). Sentencing was scheduled for September 9.
Source: American Libraries, June/July 2005.
June 2005
Library officials at the Multnomah County Library system in Oregon reported 18,786 items missing from their collections over the past six months. The majority of the items are books, 25% CDs, 12% videotapes and the remainder DVDs and audio cassettes. It was later learned that the security systems in place at the various branches had been disabled due to repeated malfunctions. The inventory was completed after a teenager was charged with repeatedly stealing from one branch.
Source: CPProt and Exlibris electronic discussion lists, June 11, 2005, citing a story from the Associated Press.
May 2005
Howard W. Harner, Jr., of Staunton, Virginia, was sentenced to two years in prison for stealing 118 Civil War-era documents from the National Archives in Washington, D.C. The thefts, which occured between 1996 and 2002, were discovered in 2003 when Harner sold a letter written by Confederate Brig. Gen. Lewis A. Armistead, worth more than $5,000. Harner later admitted he had received more than $47,000 for the materials. In addition to the prison term, Harner was fined $10,000 and has agreed to help recover 61 documents that are still missing.
Sources: American Libraries , May 2005; American Library Association web page, "News," posted June 3, 2005.
A print of the Earl of Loudoun, valued at $5,000, was stolen from the Thomas Balch Library in Leesburg, Virginia. The Library Director, Alexandra Gressitt, suspects it was stolen on May 13, after the library closed. The engraving after Alan Ramsay was donated to the library in 1996 from the Loudoun County Historical Society and measures 21.5 inches by 17 inches.
Source: Article by Molly Novotny, May 17, 2005, on the leesburg2day.com web site.
February 2005
David Breithaupt, a former employee at the Kenyon College library in Gambier, Ohio, and his girlfriend, Christa Hupp, have been charged in the theft of library material totaling $26,000. Breithaupt, who worked as a night supervisor at the library, and Hupp sold the material, including a 16th-century copy of Ptolemy's Almagest , on eBay. As part of a plea bargain, Breithaupt agreed to help locate some of the material, but still faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Source: American Libraries, February 2005.
Four 20-year-olds were charged in the theft of rare books and art from the Transylvania University Library valued at $500,000. According to an affidavit, Spencer W. Reinhard, Warren C. Lipka, Charles T. Allen II and Eric Borsuk "physically assaulted and restrained" the special collections librarian and made off with material including a first edition of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection , sketches and drawings by John James Audubon, a 16th-century book on natural history wth hand-painted, gold-illuminated woodcuts, and a 1425 illuminated manuscript. If convicted, the men could each serve up to 10 years in prison and be fined up to $250,000.
Source: Story by Andy Mead And Cassondra Kirby in the Lexington Herald-Leader , February 12, 2005, posted on the Museum Security Network and Exlibris electronic discussion lists.
Since moving to its new location on Euston Road in 1997, the British Library has reportedly lost eight thousand books, according to a recent "crime audit." According to inventories released under the Freedom of Information Act, the material includes comics, maps and a collection of 16th-century titles of works by Horace. The British Library maintains the material is not necessarily stolen, but rather may be misplaced on the shelves.
Source: Story by Maurice Chittenden in the Timesonline , February 27, 2005, posted on Museum Security Network and Exlibris electronic discussion lists.
March 2005
A single leaf from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet (London; New York : Ward, Lock, [1887]) was reported missing from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The leaf was inscribed by Doyle and dated "Nov. 25th, 87."
Source: CPProt and Exlibris electronic discussion lists, March 10, 2005, citing a e-mail from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.