Nat'l Archives Feeling Blue & Gray Over Stolen Civil War Treasures
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Intern's Pilfered Bounty Sold on eBay; Most Recovered
An intern with the National Archives stole about 165 Civil War documents - including the War Department's announcement of President Lincoln's death - and sold most of them on EBay, prosecutors charged Thursday.
The Associated Press reported that prosecutors nabbed Denning McTague, the intern who worked at a National Archives and Records Administration site in Philadelphia last summer. McTague, 40, who runs a web site dealing in rare books, has helped officials recover most of the purloined items - which included the Lincoln death announcement sent to soldiers, and a letter from famed Confederate cavalryman James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart- and plans to plead guilty.
According to the AP story:
"The sale of one of the items on EBay aroused suspicion and led to the investigation, National Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said. The office of U.S. Atty. Patrick L. Meehan said that all but a handful of the items had been recovered."
McTague holds master's degrees in history and information systems, though the university affiliation behind his internship at the National Archives was not named. Cooper said a professor at New York's State University at Albany had recommended McTague.
While McTague was with the National Archives - the official repository of the country's most important legal documents of record - he had been responsible for arranging and organizing documents in preparation for the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War. As an intern, he may not have had to go through security checks.
An intern with the National Archives stole about 165 Civil War documents - including the War Department's announcement of President Lincoln's death - and sold most of them on EBay, prosecutors charged Thursday.
The Associated Press reported that prosecutors nabbed Denning McTague, the intern who worked at a National Archives and Records Administration site in Philadelphia last summer. McTague, 40, who runs a web site dealing in rare books, has helped officials recover most of the purloined items - which included the Lincoln death announcement sent to soldiers, and a letter from famed Confederate cavalryman James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart- and plans to plead guilty.
According to the AP story:
"The sale of one of the items on EBay aroused suspicion and led to the investigation, National Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said. The office of U.S. Atty. Patrick L. Meehan said that all but a handful of the items had been recovered."
McTague holds master's degrees in history and information systems, though the university affiliation behind his internship at the National Archives was not named. Cooper said a professor at New York's State University at Albany had recommended McTague.
While McTague was with the National Archives - the official repository of the country's most important legal documents of record - he had been responsible for arranging and organizing documents in preparation for the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War. As an intern, he may not have had to go through security checks.
posted by Chris and Frank at 3:28 AM
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