Excellent synopsis of this issue, John... Best Regards, Mike Hitch "So oftentimes it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key." -Eagles |-----Original Message----- |From: lower-delmarva-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com |[mailto:lower-delmarva-roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf |Of Johnlyon0@cs.com |Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 11:33 AM |To: lower-delmarva-roots@rootsweb.com |Subject: [LDR] Archival Security | |It's a chronic problem, and always has been. There are |notorious stories of even "respected" or "trusted" parties |who've walked off deliberately with important original |materials, for their own purposes. The National Archives |experienced a major theft of original Abraham Lincoln |materials in the not-too-distant past, with the stuff ending |up sold at auction, the perpetrator brought to justice. |Another well-known MD case involved an individual many of you |would recognize from his publications, sometimes quoted on |this list, who habitually added to his private collections |(many years ago). e-Bay is a well-used outlet for such |pilferage nowadays. | |Archival facilities also have to protect against just plain |accidental thefts: patrons who bundle up their belongings on |the way out the door, and inadvertently take an original |document or a book that they've accessed. This is why there |are limitations on what one can take in. | |Then there are the stupid. I once went into an Alabama |courthouse to seek an estate record; it was gone, its folder |empty. Some years later I was directed to a party in South |Carolina who was supposedly knowledgable. He admitted happily |that he had the very record I needed; he had been to the |courthouse, found the record, and just took it. After all, it |was his grampa! He literally could not grasp that he'd stolen |anything. He found it and it was his, dagnabit. | | |John |*************************************** |QUESTIONS about POSTING GUIDELINES, SUBSCRIBING or UNSUBSCRIBING? |Visit The Lower DelMarVa Roots Mailing List FAQ: |http://www.tyaskin.com/handley/ldrfaq.htm |------------------------------- |To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to |LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word |'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body |of the message |