A state archivist in Albany has been charged with stealing hundreds of rare and valuable documents on American history from his place of work. The first line almost made me spit coffee onto my keyboard; it’s kind of funny that he was doing something so banal with the cash:
ALBANY — A veteran state archivist said he stole hundreds of historical artifacts from the State Library — including two Davy Crockett almanacs — to pay for home renovations, tuition and his daughter’s $10,000 credit card bill.
Sure, blame it on your daughter, pal. He’s kind of like the reverse of a librarian. Remember Winston Smith, the character from 1984, who destroyed news every day as part of his job? It’s like that, except this guy sold stuff to put a pool in his yard.
He got caught when a lawyer/history buff from Virginia saw some of his postings on ebay and knew something was amiss. Good idea that, placing unique historical artifacts on a public auction site. No one was ever going to find out.
