I went to a church seeking early records. I was told that at an open house they hosted there was a display of the records. When cleaning up at the end of the day, the earliest book of records was missing. It has not been heard of since. In a message dated 9/12/2008 11:33:40 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, Johnlyon0@cs.com writes: 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 **************Psssst...Have you heard the news? There's a new fashion blog, plus the latest fall trends and hair styles at StyleList.com. (http://www.stylelist.com/trends?ncid=aolsty00050000000014)