The Crime Mystery at the National Archives

The National Archives is one of our most prestigious institutions. For those that love history, politics and the ideas and philosophies that made this country great, the National Archives have been protecting documents, letters and papers for a long period of time. While the National Archives tries as hard as possible to allow as much access to these incredible documents, it does has strong policies in place to protect papers from theft and damage, unfortunately since there is a black market for many of these documents, thefts do occur. One recently was stifled by two brothers, EBay and the FBI.

Civil War Letters Sold on the Open Market
The National Archives were recently involved in a sting operation of invaluable Civil War letters that were stolen from the archives. however, two Civil War buff brothers came to the rescue when they realized that something wasn’t right when one brother tried to buy a Civil War Letter for the other’s birthday on EBay. Once suspicion arose, the FBI was called in and a sting operation was put into place.

If you enjoy a good criminal mystery and a happy ending, the National Archives theft of Civil War letters is a great story. The Smithsonian Magazine offers a fantastic article about the series of events and how this crime drama played out. You can read it at the following link: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

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True Crimes and the National Archives

While it is common to hear about famous paintings being robbed from top museums around the world, many don’t realize that there is a fairly sized black market that trades important paper, letters and documents as well. The National Archives is one of America’s most prestigious institutions, its mission is to save, store and protect some of the most important documents that range from papers from our founding fathers, documents from presidents and even letters from soldiers fighting wars. Throughout a large part of our country’s history, the National Archives has been doing a fine job of keeping these documents safe so that the public can view them and research our past. While there are plenty of policies in place to ensure these documents are not damaged or stolen, in certain situations, documents from the National Archive have been stolen and sold on the black market. This is one such story of a mysterious crime that recently involved the National Archives, EBay, the FBI and two brothers.

Shopping on EBay for a Gift Uncovers Something Strange
Innocently enough, this crime caper starts with Jim Thomas, searching for a gift for his Civil War buff brother. As he searched EBay, he came across an exciting find. One seller was offering documents that seemed to belong to the National Archives, following his suspicions, he dug deeper into this mystery.

Jim Thomas searching for a gift for his brother Dean came across Civil War letters found on EBay. As he was about to spend a considerable amount of money on the purchase, he wanted to make sure that Dean was sure to like them. As Jim talked to Dean about the letters, Dean felt a little strange as he never heard of these letters before and thought it could be a scam. As Dean began to look deeper into the origin of these letters and started to research the sellers offering, he did find a letter he recognized, it was a letter that Dean made a photocopy of several years ago- Suspiciously, it was a photocopy made while looking at historical documents in the National Archives.

Read More About How this Crime was Eventually Solved
To Read more about the incredible crime that took place at the National Archives and how good police work, technology and the passion of two Civil War buffs caught a thief, please visit the Smithsonian Magazines main website at the following link: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

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National Archives: A Civil War Crime

One of the most prestigious institutions in America is the National Archives. With the importance of knowledge and history, our country has done a fine job at collecting, saving and archiving our most important documents from the very beginning as colonies up until the present. You will find wonderful papers by our founding fathers, important documents from our presidents and even letters from those that fought in the Civil War.

While the National Archive'sNational Archive’s goal is to give access to important and priceless document to all citizens, it also has to balance this access with procedures that reduce the risk of theft and destruction. Unfortunately, there is still a black market for many of these documents if they are ever stolen and with new technology, it is easier than ever to find buyers located around the US and the world.

Recently, rare Civil War era documents were stolen unknowingly from the National Archives and made there way to sale on EBay (an online auction site). For those that love a good crime caper, the Smithsonian Magazine offers an article on how two Civil War buffs, the FBI and EBay all worked together to track down this thief. To read it, please visit our main website at the following link: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

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