Stolen Pieces of History

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) recently found 59 historical documents that had been stolen by a former employee and sold to manuscript dealers and collectors. Still, hundreds of items remain on the market, including presidential pardons, documents relating to land grants and the slave trade, and photographs taken by astronauts in space and on the moon. Former NARA Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives employee Shawn Aubitz is accused of stealing the records while he worked at the Philadelphia facility, then offering them for auction on eBay <www.ebay.com>. NARA officials are attempting to locate the remaining records, and formed a task force to review internal security measures. So far, Aubitz faces one count of theft of government property.

From the August 2002 issue of Family Tree Magazine