GDG- Stolen CW Archives

[Margaret D. Blough]

Of course, as none of these thieving nitwits seem to have figured out, the natural market on E-Bay for Civil War documents, photos, and other memorabilia includes extremely knowledgeable people who are very familiar with items that are already in collections, especially in the National Archives, and that, in the extremely unlikely event that they would be deaccessioned, would not be sold by some individual on E-Bay.  The person who stole Lewis Armistead letters was exposed by our own Wayne Motts, who, of course, has reviewed and copied every Armistead document in the National Archives through the proper channels.

Regards,

Margaret

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "James Liebegott" <jcl3 at psu.edu> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
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> As the Lawrence brothers would say, "SIGH..............." 
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> Intern admits thefts from U.S. archives 
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> By MARYCLAIRE DALE - Associated Press Writer 
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> PHILADELPHIA -- 
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> An intern with the National Archives pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing 
> 164 Civil War documents, including an official announcement of President 
> Lincoln's death, and selling most of them on eBay. 
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> Prosecutors said Denning McTague, 40, got about $30,000 from selling about 
> 150 of the documents online. All but three of the items have been recovered. 
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> McTague told investigators that he used a yellow legal pad to sneak the 
> documents out while working at the National Archives and Records 
> Administration last summer. As an intern, he had been responsible for 
> arranging and organizing documents in preparation for the upcoming 150th 
> anniversary of the Civil War. 
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> A Gettysburg company that publishes books on the Civil War spotted some of 
> the items on eBay and alerted authorities last fall, officials said. 
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> The stolen Civil War-era documents included telegrams concerning the troops' 
> weaponry, the War Department's announcement of Lincoln's death sent to 
> soldiers, and a letter from famed cavalryman James Ewell Brown Stuart, 
> prosecutors said. 
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> McTague pleaded guilty to one federal count of stealing government property. 
> U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell set his sentencing for July 12. The 
> maximum sentence would be 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but 
> federal sentencing guidelines call for much less. 
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