National Archives Gone Missing: Lincoln Civil War Telegraphs, Photos Of The Moon, And More

WASHINGTON — National Archives visitors know they'll find the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the main building's magnificent rotunda in Washington. But they won't find the patent file for the Wright Brothers' Flying Machine or the maps for the first atomic bomb missions anywhere in the Archives inventory.

Many historical items the Archives once possessed are missing, including:

_Civil War telegrams from Abraham Lincoln.

_Original signatures of Andrew Jackson.

_Presidential portraits of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

_NASA photographs from space and on the moon.

_Presidential pardons.

Some were stolen by researchers or Archives employees. Others simply disappeared without a trace.

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And there's more gone from the nation's record keeper.

The Archives' inspector general, Paul Brachfeld, is conducting a criminal investigation into a missing external hard drive with copies of sensitive records from the Clinton administration. On the hard drive were Social Security numbers, including one for one of former Vice President Al Gore's daughters.

Because the equipment also may include classified information, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, calls it a a major national security breach.

Brachfeld has documented thousands of electronic storage devices, including computers and servers, that have gone missing over the past decade from the National Archives and Records Administration.

Grassley, who has demanded an accounting of all missing items, said the loss of historical documents "robs our nation of its history and is completely unacceptable."

The Archives' stewardship of the nation's records has been questioned before. In a well-publicized incident, former President Bill Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, took documents from the Archives in the fall of 2003 while preparing, along with other ex-Clinton administration officials, for testimony to the Sept. 11 commission.

In September 2005, Berger was sentenced to two years of probation, 100 hours of community service, a $50,000 fine and loss of his security clearance for three years.

Some records have been missing for decades from the Archives' 44 facilities in 20 states and the capital, including 13 presidential libraries.

"When I came here nine years ago, there was no acknowledgment that we had a problem," Brachfeld said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Since then, he has started a recovery team that attends trade shows and Civil War re-enactments, and enlists the help of dealers and researchers to recover historical items that belong to the government.

The agency has two missions that sometimes are in conflict: preserving documents and making them available to the public in monitored research rooms with surveillance cameras.

"We do not have item-by-item control," said Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper. "We can't. We have 9 billion documents. We don't know exactly what's in each of those boxes. There's no point in preserving materials that cannot be used."

Each missing historical item has its own story.

_From 1969 to 1980, the patent file for the Wright Brothers Flyer was passed around multiple Archives offices, the Patents and Trademarks Office and the National Air and Space Museum. It was returned to the Archives in 1979, and was last seen in 1980.

_In 1962, military representatives checked out the target maps for the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The maps have been missing ever since.

_In May 2004, one of FDR's grandsons asked to see a portrait of his grandfather at the Roosevelt presidential library in Hyde Park, N.Y. It couldn't be found, and hasn't been seen since 2001.

_Shaun Aubitz, a former employee at the Archives' facility in Philadelphia, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 21 months in prison in 2002 for stealing _ among other items _ 71 pardons signed by Presidents James Madison, James Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes and Lincoln. The Archives recovered 59 records. They had been sold to manuscript dealers and collectors.

_In 2005, researcher Howard Harner was sentenced to two years in prison, two years probation, and a $10,000 fine after pleading guilty to stealing more than 100 Civil War-era documents from the Archives between 1996 and 2002. Fewer than half were recovered.

_A 40-year-old National Archives intern in Philadelphia stole 160 Civil War documents. About half were sold on eBay. The documents included telegrams about the troops' weaponry, the War Department's announcement of Lincoln's death sent to soldiers, and a letter from famed Confederate cavalryman James Ewell Brown Stuart.

A financially strapped Denning McTague was sentenced in the case to 15 months in prison in 2007. He had told a psychiatrist that he was angry that his internship was unpaid.

___

On the Web:

List of missing items: http://tinyurl.com/kvmmd2

Archives home page: http://www.archives.gov

Comments

[LMPE]

I bet that Sarah Palin can see them from her house!

[shirleyfeeney]

we can microchip a dog....

[Tommygun264]

Just to play devil's advocate, how would you permanently attach a microchip to a document or in some other way tag a document without in some way altering or damaging at least some portion? And what portion of the document would you sacrifice in order to tag it? If you place the tag along the edge, the thieves could merely trim that portion off the same way art thieves cut paintings out of the frame. You also have to take into account the long-term effects of the tags themselves. Over the centuries many old paintings have been destroyed because chemicals that seemed initially safe for the purpose of cleaning turned out to have unforeseen chemical reactions decades later and protective varnishes that were applied turned out to degrade the paint and/or canvas with time. Even long-term exposure to different types of light (natural and artificial) can cause irreparable damage. You would think there should be some safe way of permanently tagging a document, but there is a wide gap between what should be possible and what actually is possible. However, trying to figure it out is an interesting mental exercise.

[anastomosis]

There is a poem that begins: My name is Ozymandias . . .

[VOTER]

You wouldn't need to tag the document or painting but the holder/file/case
or attached label could be tagged without compromising
the item.

If the item is removed from its packing holder, an alarm could be
activated.

[mbondr1]

The Bush administration.

[truthartbeauty]

cant they devise SOME system where things can be absolutely safe? from everything? not just theft but at the very very least, can they not find a way to take care of things better than that?

[mbondr1]

Don't worry, they'll turn up. This kind of stuf is hard to hide.

70% of the Bush administration cronies are unemployed. They'll have to start trying to sell them eventually, or at least the more foolish will, and then we'll start tracing them down. I can hear them now, "but everybody was doing it!" They'll be tossed from hand to hand like little hot potatoes.

What we need is an overall inventory and a watch list.

[Tommygun264]

Can you think of ANY system where things are kept ABSOLUTELY safe? According to the article, some of these items have been missing for decades and prior to the age of the internet (and eBay) historical documents were collected by a very few, mostly extremely wealthy group. Even now, you can't just buy and sell these kinds of things on the open market. Works of art that were looted by the Nazis during WWII still turn up every few years, as the people who originally stole them or bought them knowing they were stolen have died off and their children and grandchildren who have no idea the art was stolen either have them appraised or try to sell them. The same thing happens from time to time with historical documents. It's usually just a matter of time.

[StanNotFromCA]

They'll probably show up in an upcoming Presidential library in Texas.

[HekmabaJuzimax]

The new library is located in the third floor broom closet of the Texas School Book Depository Building, 411 Elm Street, Dallas, TX 75202. Admission is a sandwich and a coke for the porter.

[opticsopen]

Yes, they will be overshadowed by the "My Pet Goat" display.

[TJCole]

Just like our Nuclear Arsenal all the plans and designs, we lost those too..!

When you have a government of liars and thieves, it's only natural others will follow suit and those they'll appoint have no more character than themselves...

[wadenelson1]

Somebody notify the folks at Antiques Roadshow.

[expat50]

Simple. The Archives need more money. If Americans think it is important to protect the nations heritage then lobby Congress to spend the money. (Bobby Jindal will liken it to volcano research but he's toast now anyway.)

The problem we see today is that the Bush/Cheney cabal did not believe in government's ability to do anything and placed incompetent cronies in agencies then starved them of operating cash to do their jobs. Now that the effects of these purposeful acts of destruction are being seen, conservative are crowing "see - government doesn't work"

Self fulfilling prophecy to be sure

[pspmd]

I hope the government takes better care of my private health information!!!

[Dragash]

Where have all our archives gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the documents gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the letters gone?
Gone to "philantropists" every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

(with apologies to Pete Seeger)

[Perry Clease]

Winston Smith back at work?

[JICC]

Forget about Palin and Sanford, this is a real scandal.

[talkitreal]

What is the job of those who work at the Archives - is it not to protect the documents ?! - I believe that alot of workers at the Archives are are walking away with the Goods!

[ResistanceisFutile]

Unbelievable. Researchers should only have access to digital copies. Employees should be searched before leaving work.

[ohiomark]

Somebody check Sandy Burger's house.

[CAP6]

Darn, you beat me to it.

[KCFreedom]

Someone needs to check Sandy's pants.