The following note appeared on several listservs today (and separately in my email several more times), so I pass it along:
"I thought the listserv should be alerted that convicted archives thief Denning McTague has resumed his old "legitimate" business of selling rare books and manuscripts, under his former business name of "Denning House Antiquarian Books & Manuscripts" based in Philadelphia (email denningmctague@yahoo.com)
Given his recent history, any archivist or librarian who might be so consider purchasing from his catalogs should perhaps think twice and demand ironclad proof of provenance for anything on offer.
Here's a link to a news story about his misdeeds in the past:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17952733/"
For more on McTague, see my past posts about him.
Showing posts with label McTague. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McTague. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Looking Back
As 2009 makes its arrival (in a bone-chilling way here in Boston: it's currently 6 degrees, with a wind chill making it feel like -13), The Guardian looks back at 2008 in books, an interesting compilation of last year's biblio-news.
Concerning other matters of interest (presumably) to you all, dear readers, here are some of the highlights and lowlights (mostly the latter, unfortunately) from 2008 in book crime. The hyperlinks on each person's name will take you to previous posts related to their crimes. Following the chronology is a list of thefts from this year which remain unsolved.
- The Transy Four failed in their bid to obtain reduced prison sentences when a three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals ruled that they should have received more prison time rather than less. (February) Unfortunately their trial judge ignored the appeals court and let her original sentences stand. (October)
- Eight books stolen from a Slovakian library in December 2007 were recovered in a Bupadest bookshop. (February)
- Jay Miller was sentenced to an eighteen-month prison term for the theft of rare books and antiques from the estate of retired Harvard professor William Ernest Hocking. (March) He was released from prison after only seven months. (November)
- Oliver Fallon, who stole materials from the Scottish Catholic Archive in Edinburgh, was sentenced to 300 hours of community service and ordered to pay a fine of £16,000. (May)
- Peter Joseph Bellwood was sentenced to one year in prison, to be followed by five years' expulsion from Denmark, and ordered to pay a 324,000 kroner ($67,000) fine for the theft of maps from the collections of the Danish Royal Library. (May) Bellwood is currently serving a 4.5-year prison term in Britain for thefts from the National Library of Wales.
- William Simon Jacques, suspected of stealing books from the Royal Horticultural Society in London, skipped bail and is believed to remain at large. (May)
- Raymond Scott, an eccentric British book dealer, was arrested after the recovery of Durham University's First Folio, which Scott took to the Folger Library for authentication. (July) Scott filed suit against the university claiming it's not their Folio (October), but was was later re-arrested in the First Folio case, and then again for stealing books from a Waterstone's shop (November)
- In the case of César Gómez Rivero, Spanish paper El Pais reported that two South American associates of Rivero had been identified, and that investigations continue. (August)
- Richard Delaney, who stole £89,000 worth of rare books and maps from Birmingham University, was sentenced to a one-year prison term (which the judge ordered suspended for eighteen months). (August)
- Eugene Zollman was indicted on charges that he stole Jefferson Davis materials from Transylvania University in 1994. The case was assigned to judge Jennifer Coffman, the same judge who ruled in the Transy Four case. Zollman's case is pending. (August)
- James Brubaker was sentenced to 30 months and prison and ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution to more than 100 libraries from which he stole more than 1000 items. (September)
- Edward Renehan, former head of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, was sentenced to an eighteen-month prison term, plus two years of supervised release and the forfeiture of $86,700 (which he'd received for the sale of letters he stole from the TRA's collections). (September)
- Several books stolen from a Vienna bookshop in October 2007 were recovered in Toronto, but the suspects in the case were not expected to face charges. Other books from the heist had been recovered earlier in Europe. (October)
- Joshua McCarty and two associates (Zachary Scranton and Angela Bays) were arrested in relation to the theft of two rare Ohio law books from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center (September). McCarty and Scranton were later indicted (October). The case is still pending, so far as I can tell.
- Daniel Lorello, a former employee at the New York State Archives who stole items from the State Library, was sentenced to 2-6 years in prison (which I still think is an awfully wide range), ordered to pay $129,500 in restitution, to be divided among people who unknowingly bought stolen property, and agreed to forfeit his personal collection of historic artifacts and documents, valued at approximately $80,000, to the New York State Library and Archives. (October)
- Denning McTague, who stole Civil War documents from the National Archives in Philadelphia while working there as an intern, was released from prison after serving twelve months of a fifteen-month term. (October)
- Book collector Farhad Hakimzadeh was arrested on charges that he defaced more than 150 books at several British libraries in order to "improve his personal collection" with the illustrations and maps. (November) He'll be sentenced this month.
- Laessio Rodrigues de Oliveira was sentenced to five years in prison for the theft of several rare books from the Institute for Research Botanical Garden in Rio de Janeiro. (December)
- Lester Weber, former curator of the Mariners' Museum, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to theft, mail fraud and filing false tax returns. Weber stole more than 3,500 documents from the museum and sold them on eBay (most have not been recovered). Weber's wife, Lori Childs, was sentenced to a fifteen-month prison term for filing a false tax return. (December)
The following thefts from 2008 remain unsolved (as far as I know):
- A large collection of maps and atlases, stolen from a London collector's office in December.
- A number of rare books stolen from a display case at Boston's Old South Church in September.
- A Mark Twain letter, reported missing after the Denver Book Fair in August.
- Four manuscript diaries from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, stolen at Boston's South Station in March.
Updates or additions always appreciated.
Concerning other matters of interest (presumably) to you all, dear readers, here are some of the highlights and lowlights (mostly the latter, unfortunately) from 2008 in book crime. The hyperlinks on each person's name will take you to previous posts related to their crimes. Following the chronology is a list of thefts from this year which remain unsolved.
- The Transy Four failed in their bid to obtain reduced prison sentences when a three-judge panel on the Court of Appeals ruled that they should have received more prison time rather than less. (February) Unfortunately their trial judge ignored the appeals court and let her original sentences stand. (October)
- Eight books stolen from a Slovakian library in December 2007 were recovered in a Bupadest bookshop. (February)
- Jay Miller was sentenced to an eighteen-month prison term for the theft of rare books and antiques from the estate of retired Harvard professor William Ernest Hocking. (March) He was released from prison after only seven months. (November)
- Oliver Fallon, who stole materials from the Scottish Catholic Archive in Edinburgh, was sentenced to 300 hours of community service and ordered to pay a fine of £16,000. (May)
- Peter Joseph Bellwood was sentenced to one year in prison, to be followed by five years' expulsion from Denmark, and ordered to pay a 324,000 kroner ($67,000) fine for the theft of maps from the collections of the Danish Royal Library. (May) Bellwood is currently serving a 4.5-year prison term in Britain for thefts from the National Library of Wales.
- William Simon Jacques, suspected of stealing books from the Royal Horticultural Society in London, skipped bail and is believed to remain at large. (May)
- Raymond Scott, an eccentric British book dealer, was arrested after the recovery of Durham University's First Folio, which Scott took to the Folger Library for authentication. (July) Scott filed suit against the university claiming it's not their Folio (October), but was was later re-arrested in the First Folio case, and then again for stealing books from a Waterstone's shop (November)
- In the case of César Gómez Rivero, Spanish paper El Pais reported that two South American associates of Rivero had been identified, and that investigations continue. (August)
- Richard Delaney, who stole £89,000 worth of rare books and maps from Birmingham University, was sentenced to a one-year prison term (which the judge ordered suspended for eighteen months). (August)
- Eugene Zollman was indicted on charges that he stole Jefferson Davis materials from Transylvania University in 1994. The case was assigned to judge Jennifer Coffman, the same judge who ruled in the Transy Four case. Zollman's case is pending. (August)
- James Brubaker was sentenced to 30 months and prison and ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution to more than 100 libraries from which he stole more than 1000 items. (September)
- Edward Renehan, former head of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, was sentenced to an eighteen-month prison term, plus two years of supervised release and the forfeiture of $86,700 (which he'd received for the sale of letters he stole from the TRA's collections). (September)
- Several books stolen from a Vienna bookshop in October 2007 were recovered in Toronto, but the suspects in the case were not expected to face charges. Other books from the heist had been recovered earlier in Europe. (October)
- Joshua McCarty and two associates (Zachary Scranton and Angela Bays) were arrested in relation to the theft of two rare Ohio law books from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center (September). McCarty and Scranton were later indicted (October). The case is still pending, so far as I can tell.
- Daniel Lorello, a former employee at the New York State Archives who stole items from the State Library, was sentenced to 2-6 years in prison (which I still think is an awfully wide range), ordered to pay $129,500 in restitution, to be divided among people who unknowingly bought stolen property, and agreed to forfeit his personal collection of historic artifacts and documents, valued at approximately $80,000, to the New York State Library and Archives. (October)
- Denning McTague, who stole Civil War documents from the National Archives in Philadelphia while working there as an intern, was released from prison after serving twelve months of a fifteen-month term. (October)
- Book collector Farhad Hakimzadeh was arrested on charges that he defaced more than 150 books at several British libraries in order to "improve his personal collection" with the illustrations and maps. (November) He'll be sentenced this month.
- Laessio Rodrigues de Oliveira was sentenced to five years in prison for the theft of several rare books from the Institute for Research Botanical Garden in Rio de Janeiro. (December)
- Lester Weber, former curator of the Mariners' Museum, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to theft, mail fraud and filing false tax returns. Weber stole more than 3,500 documents from the museum and sold them on eBay (most have not been recovered). Weber's wife, Lori Childs, was sentenced to a fifteen-month prison term for filing a false tax return. (December)
The following thefts from 2008 remain unsolved (as far as I know):
- A large collection of maps and atlases, stolen from a London collector's office in December.
- A number of rare books stolen from a display case at Boston's Old South Church in September.
- A Mark Twain letter, reported missing after the Denver Book Fair in August.
- Four manuscript diaries from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, stolen at Boston's South Station in March.
Updates or additions always appreciated.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Links & Reviews
This was a busy week, both for me and for biblio-news.
- This week marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of Noah Webster, which was celebrated with a symposium at Yale.
- LT passed a major milestone this week; it now contains more individual records than the Library of Congress (some 32.2 million). Abby notes: "The fun of LibraryThing isn't just in the widely held books, it's in those that are shared by only 10 or 20 other members. It's easy to find someone who has read The Hobbit. Finding someone to discuss your more obscure books isn't quite so simple. But on LibraryThing, you can. There are 8 members who list The National Uncanny: Indian Ghosts and American Subjects—8 members who can find each other and have a common interest. The "long tail" of LibraryThing is long indeed."
- Speaking of LT, Tim delivered a keynote speech at the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) forum in Cincinnati on Friday. Some reaction at LITA Blog, Wake Up Little Susie, Library Geek Woes, AL's Inside Scoop, eclectic librarian).
- ALA announced this week that issues of American Libraries dating back to 2003 will now be freely available to all, and that non-ALA members will be able to subscribe to AL's weekly newsletter, "American Libraries Direct." Good news indeed.
- The Boston Globe reports on an auction today of a 1786 edition of Nicholas Pike's Arithmetic, plus a three-page letter by George Washington commending the work. Other materials to be sold today include Pike's journal.
- In the New Yorker, Louis Menand comments on text-messaging. He writes "The texting function of the cell phone ought to have been the special province of the kind of people who figure out how to use the television remote to turn on the toaster: it’s a huge amount of trouble relative to the results." It's true. Since I refuse to use abbreviations, it can take me eons to type a text message. Menand takes issue with linguist David Crystal's conclusions that texting isn't a serious threat to the language as we know it, but closes his own essay by saying "Once the numeric keypad is replaced by the QWERTY keyboard on most mobile messaging devices, and once the capacity of those devices increases, we are likely to see far fewer initialisms and pictograms. Discourse will migrate back up toward the level of e-mail."
- The Library of Congress has pulled out of the bidding process for the collections of the Lincoln Museum (Fort Wayne, IN). Several finalists are believed to remain, and a winner should be announced by the end of the year.
- Joyce passes along a dispatch from Maud Newton, who attended the celebration for the 80th anniversary of the Oxford English Dictionary. More on the celebrations here.
- And via fade theory, an interview with Alberto Manguel from a Turkish newspaper.
- Denning McTague was released from jail on 15 September, having served just over twelve months of a 15-month term.
- The BL announced a £500,000 purchase of the literary archive of Ted Hughes, in more than two hundred boxes. Cataloguers expect to have the collection available by the end of 2009.
- Via LISNews, word that some of the libraries involved with the Google Books Project are pooling their resources to create a backup digital library. "One of the most important functions of the project, say its leaders, ... is to create a stable backup of the digital books should Google go bankrupt or lose interest in the book-searching business." Not a bad plan by any means.
- For The Guardian, David Garnett asks "Which are the best books that never existed?" Be sure to read the comments as well, some of which are excellent.
- Paul Collins has discovered a Canadian book-town: Sidney, British Columbia (with eleven bookshops in a five-block area). Sounds awfully pleasant to me!
- Everybody and their brother has already blogged about it, so I'll just make a quick link to the Wired piece on Jay Walker's amazing personal library (which is absolutely amazing).
- Also in the New Yorker, Jill Lepore has a fascinating look at presidential campaign biographies, with a special focus on those written for Andrew Jackson (this was what prompted me to pick up that 1828 edition of Eaton's Memoirs of Andrew Jackson from the Brattle yesterday).
Reviews
- The Little Professor reviews the premiere episode of NBC's new series "Crusoe." I didn't watch on Friday night, but the episode is on Hulu now, so I'll probably take a look at it soon. My expectations couldn't be much lower.
- Kathryn Shevelow reviews Lisa Jardine's new book, Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland's Glory in the Washington Post.
- Also in the Post, Maureen Corrigan reviews Fernando Báez's A Universal History of the Destruction of Books and Larry McMurtry's Books. And boy does she take the pair of authors to task: these two books taken together, she writes, "deliver a one-two punch of New Age mysticism and cowboy cornpone that just about decks any viable defense of bibliophilia." The former she calls a "migraine-trigger," and of McMurtry, she says "For a guy who's made a tidy living by storytelling, he can barely be bothered to exhale a narrative: Chapters run three pages long -- or fewer -- and the plotline of his reminiscences about booksellers he's known and customers he's served simply evaporates like spittle on a hot coal."
- In the Boston Globe, Nigel Hamilton reviews Kathleen Burk's Old World, New World: Great Britain and America from the Beginning.
- At Reading Archives, Bernadette Callery reviews Christine Guth's Longfellow's Tattoos.
- The fourth volume of Arturo Perez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste series, The King's Gold, has now been published in English. Anna Mundow has a review in the Washington Post.
- This week marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of Noah Webster, which was celebrated with a symposium at Yale.
- LT passed a major milestone this week; it now contains more individual records than the Library of Congress (some 32.2 million). Abby notes: "The fun of LibraryThing isn't just in the widely held books, it's in those that are shared by only 10 or 20 other members. It's easy to find someone who has read The Hobbit. Finding someone to discuss your more obscure books isn't quite so simple. But on LibraryThing, you can. There are 8 members who list The National Uncanny: Indian Ghosts and American Subjects—8 members who can find each other and have a common interest. The "long tail" of LibraryThing is long indeed."
- Speaking of LT, Tim delivered a keynote speech at the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) forum in Cincinnati on Friday. Some reaction at LITA Blog, Wake Up Little Susie, Library Geek Woes, AL's Inside Scoop, eclectic librarian).
- ALA announced this week that issues of American Libraries dating back to 2003 will now be freely available to all, and that non-ALA members will be able to subscribe to AL's weekly newsletter, "American Libraries Direct." Good news indeed.
- The Boston Globe reports on an auction today of a 1786 edition of Nicholas Pike's Arithmetic, plus a three-page letter by George Washington commending the work. Other materials to be sold today include Pike's journal.
- In the New Yorker, Louis Menand comments on text-messaging. He writes "The texting function of the cell phone ought to have been the special province of the kind of people who figure out how to use the television remote to turn on the toaster: it’s a huge amount of trouble relative to the results." It's true. Since I refuse to use abbreviations, it can take me eons to type a text message. Menand takes issue with linguist David Crystal's conclusions that texting isn't a serious threat to the language as we know it, but closes his own essay by saying "Once the numeric keypad is replaced by the QWERTY keyboard on most mobile messaging devices, and once the capacity of those devices increases, we are likely to see far fewer initialisms and pictograms. Discourse will migrate back up toward the level of e-mail."
- The Library of Congress has pulled out of the bidding process for the collections of the Lincoln Museum (Fort Wayne, IN). Several finalists are believed to remain, and a winner should be announced by the end of the year.
- Joyce passes along a dispatch from Maud Newton, who attended the celebration for the 80th anniversary of the Oxford English Dictionary. More on the celebrations here.
- And via fade theory, an interview with Alberto Manguel from a Turkish newspaper.
- Denning McTague was released from jail on 15 September, having served just over twelve months of a 15-month term.
- The BL announced a £500,000 purchase of the literary archive of Ted Hughes, in more than two hundred boxes. Cataloguers expect to have the collection available by the end of 2009.
- Via LISNews, word that some of the libraries involved with the Google Books Project are pooling their resources to create a backup digital library. "One of the most important functions of the project, say its leaders, ... is to create a stable backup of the digital books should Google go bankrupt or lose interest in the book-searching business." Not a bad plan by any means.
- For The Guardian, David Garnett asks "Which are the best books that never existed?" Be sure to read the comments as well, some of which are excellent.
- Paul Collins has discovered a Canadian book-town: Sidney, British Columbia (with eleven bookshops in a five-block area). Sounds awfully pleasant to me!
- Everybody and their brother has already blogged about it, so I'll just make a quick link to the Wired piece on Jay Walker's amazing personal library (which is absolutely amazing).
- Also in the New Yorker, Jill Lepore has a fascinating look at presidential campaign biographies, with a special focus on those written for Andrew Jackson (this was what prompted me to pick up that 1828 edition of Eaton's Memoirs of Andrew Jackson from the Brattle yesterday).
Reviews
- The Little Professor reviews the premiere episode of NBC's new series "Crusoe." I didn't watch on Friday night, but the episode is on Hulu now, so I'll probably take a look at it soon. My expectations couldn't be much lower.
- Kathryn Shevelow reviews Lisa Jardine's new book, Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland's Glory in the Washington Post.
- Also in the Post, Maureen Corrigan reviews Fernando Báez's A Universal History of the Destruction of Books and Larry McMurtry's Books. And boy does she take the pair of authors to task: these two books taken together, she writes, "deliver a one-two punch of New Age mysticism and cowboy cornpone that just about decks any viable defense of bibliophilia." The former she calls a "migraine-trigger," and of McMurtry, she says "For a guy who's made a tidy living by storytelling, he can barely be bothered to exhale a narrative: Chapters run three pages long -- or fewer -- and the plotline of his reminiscences about booksellers he's known and customers he's served simply evaporates like spittle on a hot coal."
- In the Boston Globe, Nigel Hamilton reviews Kathleen Burk's Old World, New World: Great Britain and America from the Beginning.
- At Reading Archives, Bernadette Callery reviews Christine Guth's Longfellow's Tattoos.
- The fourth volume of Arturo Perez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste series, The King's Gold, has now been published in English. Anna Mundow has a review in the Washington Post.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Catching Up
Well I have four book reviews to write after a blissfully Internet-free week in Maine, but I figured I'd start with a quick run-through of a (very) few of the items that came across my Google Reader while I was away. I'm sure I've missed something important and will try to catch up with it if so.
No, by the way, my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows did not arrive on time, although I suspect that's because the Post Office didn't resume my mail delivery on Saturday as I'd requested (shocked, anyone?). I have, however, managed to avoid having the ending spoiled for me yet (though I very much doubt I'll get through the book without finding out what happens).
- Most serious things first - Travis has some updates on the book crimes front for us: the freshly-sentenced Denning McTague will begin his 15-month prison term in 15 August; after his release there will be a two-year period in which "the defendant shall not engage in physical contact with archival material without the prior consent of the court." Also, he notes that former Rockland County Historical Society curator Rebecca Streeter-Chen was indicted last week on a charge of second-degree grand larceny in theft of an 1823 Tanner atlas. No further court dates are scheduled yet.
- Paul Collins has an article about Charles Kellogg in the New Scientist; he's posted some extras at Weekend Stubble.
- Caleb Crain reviews Leviathan (by Eric Jay Dolin) in the New Yorker); some "web extras and informal footnotes" are here.
- BibliOdyssey has some botanical illustrations from 'Tradescant's Orchard,' a 1620s manuscript. Lots of good background as well.
- Over at Mutterings of a Mad Bookseller, the interesting story of "The Affair of the Diamond Necklace," which some say led to the ultimate execution of Marie Antoinette.
- Lots of news from LT: there will be a party in Cambridge on 28 July; Project Ocelot is now fully unveiled (Connections News is my favorite new feature); Tim's recent talk at the Library of Congress is now online; the homepage has some new flavor (which I quite like).
- Biblio's Bloggins reviews Jasper Fforde's First Among Sequels. My review's coming soon, maybe even tonight.
- Lew Jaffe's got some bookplate odds and ends for us.
More soon. Many reviews in the works.
No, by the way, my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows did not arrive on time, although I suspect that's because the Post Office didn't resume my mail delivery on Saturday as I'd requested (shocked, anyone?). I have, however, managed to avoid having the ending spoiled for me yet (though I very much doubt I'll get through the book without finding out what happens).
- Most serious things first - Travis has some updates on the book crimes front for us: the freshly-sentenced Denning McTague will begin his 15-month prison term in 15 August; after his release there will be a two-year period in which "the defendant shall not engage in physical contact with archival material without the prior consent of the court." Also, he notes that former Rockland County Historical Society curator Rebecca Streeter-Chen was indicted last week on a charge of second-degree grand larceny in theft of an 1823 Tanner atlas. No further court dates are scheduled yet.
- Paul Collins has an article about Charles Kellogg in the New Scientist; he's posted some extras at Weekend Stubble.
- Caleb Crain reviews Leviathan (by Eric Jay Dolin) in the New Yorker); some "web extras and informal footnotes" are here.
- BibliOdyssey has some botanical illustrations from 'Tradescant's Orchard,' a 1620s manuscript. Lots of good background as well.
- Over at Mutterings of a Mad Bookseller, the interesting story of "The Affair of the Diamond Necklace," which some say led to the ultimate execution of Marie Antoinette.
- Lots of news from LT: there will be a party in Cambridge on 28 July; Project Ocelot is now fully unveiled (Connections News is my favorite new feature); Tim's recent talk at the Library of Congress is now online; the homepage has some new flavor (which I quite like).
- Biblio's Bloggins reviews Jasper Fforde's First Among Sequels. My review's coming soon, maybe even tonight.
- Lew Jaffe's got some bookplate odds and ends for us.
More soon. Many reviews in the works.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
15 Months for McTague
Well, frankly it's more than I expected. Denning McTague, the Thieving Intern, will be spending 15 months in federal prison for his crimes, the AP reports.
"'I'm so deeply sorry,' a tearful McTague told U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell. 'I feel like I've inflicted a lot of pain on the people at the archives.'"
"McTague's lawyer described him as a quiet, decent man who became mired in debt as he earned two graduate degrees and tried to keep afloat the rare book business he had inherited from his mother. McTague, however, told a psychiatrist that he was angry his internship was unpaid, prompting Dalzell to question whether revenge was a motivating factor."
McTague will also pay a $3,000 fine.
It's not enough time, nor is it even at the high end of what the prosecutors wanted (18 months), nor will he serve it all ... but it is definitely a harsher sentence than I expected he'd get.
"'I'm so deeply sorry,' a tearful McTague told U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell. 'I feel like I've inflicted a lot of pain on the people at the archives.'"
"McTague's lawyer described him as a quiet, decent man who became mired in debt as he earned two graduate degrees and tried to keep afloat the rare book business he had inherited from his mother. McTague, however, told a psychiatrist that he was angry his internship was unpaid, prompting Dalzell to question whether revenge was a motivating factor."
McTague will also pay a $3,000 fine.
It's not enough time, nor is it even at the high end of what the prosecutors wanted (18 months), nor will he serve it all ... but it is definitely a harsher sentence than I expected he'd get.
While We Wait
Travis provides some more excellent commentary on the McTague defense materials, examining the twenty-seven letters of support submitted by friends, relatives and acquaintances on McTague's behalf. Travis includes some quotes from letters written by people in the book trade, who - quite frankly - ought to know better than to defend or even be seen as condoning the actions taken by McTague.
Sentencing's still set for 2:30, as far as I know. As soon as I know something, I'll post.
Sentencing's still set for 2:30, as far as I know. As soon as I know something, I'll post.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
More McTague Defense
Travis has part two of his analysis of Denning McTague's defense sentencing memorandum (part one here). He notes "In the McTague sentencing, there is really only one major disputed legal point: whether DMcT 'abused a position of public or private trust ('characterized by professional or managerial discretion'), or used a special skill, in a manner that significantly facilitated the commission or concealment of the offense.' The government claims he did and he claims he didn’t. (Okay, archivist readers - do you exercise a special skill?)"
It seems ludicrous to suggest that McTague could have committed these crimes without abusing a position of public or private trust - that's exactly what he did. And yes, I think that being trained as an archivist and knowing how to handle documents (thereby fooling people into believing he could be trusted with them) is a special skill which McTague used to his full advantage in carrying out these attacks on our cultural heritage.
Travis writes that McTague's lawyers have done a good job in the brief of pinning the blame for McTague's 'break' on just about everyone except the Thieving Intern himself. Yes, it's difficult to get jobs in libraries (but if he thought it was hard before ...). No, they don't even pay particularly well once you get one. Yes, it sounds like McTague had some financial difficulties and that his life wasn't exactly perpetual sunshine. But that should not, does not, cannot give him carte blanche to abuse his position, steal archival artifacts, and try to profit from their illicit sale.
The defense memo, Travis says, characterizes McTague's crimes as "more self-destructive than self-interested" - be that as it may, they're still crimes, and he deserves as severe a punishment for them as can be handed down. Self-destruction may be at the heart of it, but self-interest was clearly a major contributing factor.
Book/map/archives thieves are one thing when they come from the outside and steal. Inside jobs are, to me, even more nefarious and should be punished with an extra helping of vigor. I hope McTague's judge takes this opportunity to set an example and show all the would-be McTagues out there that this kind of criminal behavior cannot and will not be tolerated.
It seems ludicrous to suggest that McTague could have committed these crimes without abusing a position of public or private trust - that's exactly what he did. And yes, I think that being trained as an archivist and knowing how to handle documents (thereby fooling people into believing he could be trusted with them) is a special skill which McTague used to his full advantage in carrying out these attacks on our cultural heritage.
Travis writes that McTague's lawyers have done a good job in the brief of pinning the blame for McTague's 'break' on just about everyone except the Thieving Intern himself. Yes, it's difficult to get jobs in libraries (but if he thought it was hard before ...). No, they don't even pay particularly well once you get one. Yes, it sounds like McTague had some financial difficulties and that his life wasn't exactly perpetual sunshine. But that should not, does not, cannot give him carte blanche to abuse his position, steal archival artifacts, and try to profit from their illicit sale.
The defense memo, Travis says, characterizes McTague's crimes as "more self-destructive than self-interested" - be that as it may, they're still crimes, and he deserves as severe a punishment for them as can be handed down. Self-destruction may be at the heart of it, but self-interest was clearly a major contributing factor.
Book/map/archives thieves are one thing when they come from the outside and steal. Inside jobs are, to me, even more nefarious and should be punished with an extra helping of vigor. I hope McTague's judge takes this opportunity to set an example and show all the would-be McTagues out there that this kind of criminal behavior cannot and will not be tolerated.
Monday, July 09, 2007
McTague Defense: He's the Best!
We heard from the prosecution last week in the matter of Denning McTague's sentencing; now Travis has the first part of his report on McTague's 89-page defense motion.
The first line is a doozy: "By all accounts, Denning McTague is a quiet, unassuming, and fundamentally decent man." Yes, if by 'fundamentally decent man' you mean 'trust-abusing thief'.
Travis adds "As regular readers know, all of these defense memos and briefs make you want to place laurels at the feet of the thieves in question. And that’s what they’re supposed to do. But I felt like donating to the McTague defense fund by the time I’d made it through 28 pages of triumph over adversity. After 89 more pages of friendly testimonial I wished I was DMcT."
Ugh. The judge won't be able to throw the book hard enough at McTague.
The first line is a doozy: "By all accounts, Denning McTague is a quiet, unassuming, and fundamentally decent man." Yes, if by 'fundamentally decent man' you mean 'trust-abusing thief'.
Travis adds "As regular readers know, all of these defense memos and briefs make you want to place laurels at the feet of the thieves in question. And that’s what they’re supposed to do. But I felt like donating to the McTague defense fund by the time I’d made it through 28 pages of triumph over adversity. After 89 more pages of friendly testimonial I wished I was DMcT."
Ugh. The judge won't be able to throw the book hard enough at McTague.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Prosecutor Wants 12-18 Months for McTague
Travis reports on the federal prosecutor's sentencing memorandum in the Denning McTague (aka Thieving Intern) case. I agree entirely with Travis' characterization of the memo's first paragraph: almost all "fantastic ... Right up until the last sentence."
"Defendant Denning McTague, a thief, stole American history. Although educated in history and raised surrounded by historical documents in his mother’s antiquarian business, McTague did not steal these 164 documents from the National Archives because he cherished the importance of the historical event or the character of the document’s author. No, McTague stole the items to place them for sale on ebay, that is to make money. McTague used his knowledge and skills to take advantage of an opportunity and the people that trusted him at the National Archives. For these reasons, as well as for the reasons provided below, the government recommends a sentence of incarceration within the advisory guideline range of 12 to 18 months."
Travis notes "While this doesn't come as a surprise, it still stings a little to see it written out." He's got some more observations about the brief, which includes some Word-induced typographical anomalies (that is, obnoxious manifestations of the auto-correct feature).
The defense brief isn't out yet, but will certainly call for less jail time (or probably none at all); perhaps they'll take a page from the Smiley judge's book and ask for less than a week, since McTague says he snatched all the documents over the course of two days.
McTague's sentencing is set for 12 July at 2:30 p.m.
[Updated to change McDade to McTague in two spots. Sorry Travis!]
"Defendant Denning McTague, a thief, stole American history. Although educated in history and raised surrounded by historical documents in his mother’s antiquarian business, McTague did not steal these 164 documents from the National Archives because he cherished the importance of the historical event or the character of the document’s author. No, McTague stole the items to place them for sale on ebay, that is to make money. McTague used his knowledge and skills to take advantage of an opportunity and the people that trusted him at the National Archives. For these reasons, as well as for the reasons provided below, the government recommends a sentence of incarceration within the advisory guideline range of 12 to 18 months."
Travis notes "While this doesn't come as a surprise, it still stings a little to see it written out." He's got some more observations about the brief, which includes some Word-induced typographical anomalies (that is, obnoxious manifestations of the auto-correct feature).
The defense brief isn't out yet, but will certainly call for less jail time (or probably none at all); perhaps they'll take a page from the Smiley judge's book and ask for less than a week, since McTague says he snatched all the documents over the course of two days.
McTague's sentencing is set for 12 July at 2:30 p.m.
[Updated to change McDade to McTague in two spots. Sorry Travis!]
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Manuscript of "The Good Earth" Recovered
The original typescript (with hand-corrections) of Pearl Buck's novel The Good Earth "went missing" from the author's home around 1966; it reappeared earlier this month "after the daughter of one of the author's former secretaries tried to put it up for auction" at Samuel T. Freeman & Co. in Philadelphia. Patrick Walters filed an AP report on the story.
Auction house officials alerted the FBI after authenticating the document and being told it was stolen; the FBI is currently holding the manuscript "while the family trust and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation decide what to do with it."
No charges will be filed in the case, according to US Attorney Patrick Meehan (yes, he's the one 'prosecuting' the McTague case too). He said that while it appeared the document had been "inappropriately obtained" (which I am declaring the official PhiloBiblos Euphemism of the Day), "[t]o the extent that somebody may have been suspicious some number of years ago, that was some number of years ago."
In this case, it's probably true that no charges could or should be filed, so I won't grouse too much. It's good that the document (which was accompanied by a collection of letters to Buck from, among others, Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry Truman) has been recovered, and hopefully it will end up somewhere that it can be studied and viewed.
Auction house officials alerted the FBI after authenticating the document and being told it was stolen; the FBI is currently holding the manuscript "while the family trust and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation decide what to do with it."
No charges will be filed in the case, according to US Attorney Patrick Meehan (yes, he's the one 'prosecuting' the McTague case too). He said that while it appeared the document had been "inappropriately obtained" (which I am declaring the official PhiloBiblos Euphemism of the Day), "[t]o the extent that somebody may have been suspicious some number of years ago, that was some number of years ago."
In this case, it's probably true that no charges could or should be filed, so I won't grouse too much. It's good that the document (which was accompanied by a collection of letters to Buck from, among others, Eleanor Roosevelt and Harry Truman) has been recovered, and hopefully it will end up somewhere that it can be studied and viewed.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Links &c.
- If you haven't made Bibliopolis a regular stop, I highly encourage it. It's a great biblioblog clearinghouse, and has quickly become indispensible.
- Travis McDade has some more on the McTague case, noting that McTague's lawyer used to work with the U.S. Attorney's office in Philadelphia, prosecuting "sales of stolen art and manuscripts."
- fade theory points out a new online exhibit from the University of Cincinnati libraries, "The Shape of the Book." Fairly basic, but worth checking out.
- From BibliOdyssey, Franciscus Valentin's 1726 collection of fish images from Indonesia and Ceylon and a great selection from "The Book of Curiosities".
- Reading Copy posts on ABE's new "not-book" (Nineteen Eighty-Five: Things are Looking Up by George Orwell).
- Ian has more thoughts on the Boston fair, and also a few comments on Bookride.
- Ed's got the fourth chapter of The Quaker City up, and has also created a site on the gravesite of George Lippard.
- Over at Critical Mass, they link to Scott McLemee's Inside Higher Ed column on the republication of Cawdrey's dictionary (1604). Joyce also commented on this; I'm excited for the reprint.
- Scott at Fine Books Blog has much excellent background information on the happenings at Heritage Book Shop. There will be more in the upcoming May/June edition of Fine Books and Collections.
- Travis McDade has some more on the McTague case, noting that McTague's lawyer used to work with the U.S. Attorney's office in Philadelphia, prosecuting "sales of stolen art and manuscripts."
- fade theory points out a new online exhibit from the University of Cincinnati libraries, "The Shape of the Book." Fairly basic, but worth checking out.
- From BibliOdyssey, Franciscus Valentin's 1726 collection of fish images from Indonesia and Ceylon and a great selection from "The Book of Curiosities".
- Reading Copy posts on ABE's new "not-book" (Nineteen Eighty-Five: Things are Looking Up by George Orwell).
- Ian has more thoughts on the Boston fair, and also a few comments on Bookride.
- Ed's got the fourth chapter of The Quaker City up, and has also created a site on the gravesite of George Lippard.
- Over at Critical Mass, they link to Scott McLemee's Inside Higher Ed column on the republication of Cawdrey's dictionary (1604). Joyce also commented on this; I'm excited for the reprint.
- Scott at Fine Books Blog has much excellent background information on the happenings at Heritage Book Shop. There will be more in the upcoming May/June edition of Fine Books and Collections.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Newsweek Covers Thieving Intern
Denning McTague's fifteen minutes are just about up (ironic that that's also probably about the time he'll spend in jail for selling pieces of the nation's cultural heritage on eBay), but first, the obligatory Newsweek article. Eve Conant has the byline for "To Catch a Thief: It was the perfect setup. How a quiet, unassuming 40-year-old historian got away with some of the nation's priceless historical documents."
Not a bad article, but I'm puzzled by comments from US Attorney Patrick Meehan, who's quoted as saying that the documents McTague stole "are valued well into the tens of thousands. Their intrinsic value may be limited, but they are of incalculable value to historians." Incalculable ... exactly. So why let McTague plead out and get a minimal punishment? Why not throw the book at the guy and take a firm stand against cultural crime, instead of charging him on one count of the least serious possible charge? Incalculable worth, but not worth your time? Bah.
Not a bad article, but I'm puzzled by comments from US Attorney Patrick Meehan, who's quoted as saying that the documents McTague stole "are valued well into the tens of thousands. Their intrinsic value may be limited, but they are of incalculable value to historians." Incalculable ... exactly. So why let McTague plead out and get a minimal punishment? Why not throw the book at the guy and take a firm stand against cultural crime, instead of charging him on one count of the least serious possible charge? Incalculable worth, but not worth your time? Bah.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
McTague Pleads Guilty, Sentence TBD
As expected, Thieving Intern Denning McTague pleaded guilty to one count of stealing government property today in federal court. The AP notes that all but three of the 165+ items stolen from the Philadelphia branch of the National Archives have been returned.
In making his plea (on which Travis McDade comments here at Upward Departure), McTague admitted that he had slipped the archival documents inside the pages of a yellow legal pad in order to get them out of the building where he worked as an intern.
McTague's sentencing is set for 12 July; the top sentence is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but as the AP notes "federal sentencing guidelines call for much less." And as we know, chances are fairly good that McTague will spend less than a year in jail (that is, if he's sent there at all).
A shameful shirking of responsibility by the federal prosecutors, who ought to have taken this crime much more seriously.
In making his plea (on which Travis McDade comments here at Upward Departure), McTague admitted that he had slipped the archival documents inside the pages of a yellow legal pad in order to get them out of the building where he worked as an intern.
McTague's sentencing is set for 12 July; the top sentence is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but as the AP notes "federal sentencing guidelines call for much less." And as we know, chances are fairly good that McTague will spend less than a year in jail (that is, if he's sent there at all).
A shameful shirking of responsibility by the federal prosecutors, who ought to have taken this crime much more seriously.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Links &c.
- The British Book Awards were announced on Thursday. [h/t: The Book Depository]
- Paul Collins has been deliciously busy lately and has a whole bunch of goodies for us. First, he's got a new piece in the April issue of The Believer on alloynomic literature - that in which a famous author's name is appropriated (usually but not always after their death). Quite fun, this one. He's also got a post on some classic April Fools' pranks, including one which caught some gullible Bostonians in the 1840s.
- Ed's posted two new chapters of Lippard's The Quaker City for us to read as part of the ongoing serialization.
- Over at Reading Archives, Richard Cox comments on the new book Stealing Lincoln's Body and its links to historical documentation.
- Reading Copy this week comented on literary misspellings and, very interestingly, of books ordered through ABE by American soldiers serving in Iraq.
- FoggyGates has some thoughts about the announced Harry Potter cover designs. I agree with him.
- From BibliOdyssey this week: comets and Renaissance drawings.
- Our friend at Fade Theory posts the lyrics and some thoughts on the song "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," as sung by Simon & Garfunkel. One of my favorites.
- Travis at Upward Departure has been busy this week too. He links to a newly-mounted list from NARA of some of the documents that have "gone missing" from the National Archives (and a contest to name such thefts); he also comments on my post from last weekend on the upcoming guilty plea by Denning McTague (court date: Wednesday, 4 April).
- Over at The Millions, Garth has a post about some of the recent fiction relating to the Jamestown settlement.
- Book Trout announces an April sale, 20% off books listed on their website. I'll have to check that out and see what they've got to offer.
- Paul Collins has been deliciously busy lately and has a whole bunch of goodies for us. First, he's got a new piece in the April issue of The Believer on alloynomic literature - that in which a famous author's name is appropriated (usually but not always after their death). Quite fun, this one. He's also got a post on some classic April Fools' pranks, including one which caught some gullible Bostonians in the 1840s.
- Ed's posted two new chapters of Lippard's The Quaker City for us to read as part of the ongoing serialization.
- Over at Reading Archives, Richard Cox comments on the new book Stealing Lincoln's Body and its links to historical documentation.
- Reading Copy this week comented on literary misspellings and, very interestingly, of books ordered through ABE by American soldiers serving in Iraq.
- FoggyGates has some thoughts about the announced Harry Potter cover designs. I agree with him.
- From BibliOdyssey this week: comets and Renaissance drawings.
- Our friend at Fade Theory posts the lyrics and some thoughts on the song "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," as sung by Simon & Garfunkel. One of my favorites.
- Travis at Upward Departure has been busy this week too. He links to a newly-mounted list from NARA of some of the documents that have "gone missing" from the National Archives (and a contest to name such thefts); he also comments on my post from last weekend on the upcoming guilty plea by Denning McTague (court date: Wednesday, 4 April).
- Over at The Millions, Garth has a post about some of the recent fiction relating to the Jamestown settlement.
- Book Trout announces an April sale, 20% off books listed on their website. I'll have to check that out and see what they've got to offer.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Meet the McTague-Busters
The Evening Sun (PA) has a report today on the brothers who stumbled onto the Denning McTague archives theft case. Dean and Jim Thomas of Thomas Publications (near Gettysburg) began bidding on some of the Civil War documents McTague was selling on eBay ... and then realized that they'd seen some of the items before - in fact, Dean had photocopied one of the documents more than two decades earlier while doing research at the National Archives.
"'I called the Archives to see if they were having a sale,' Dean said with a laugh." Federal agents responded, and worked with the brothers to arrange more purchases from McTague.
Good going, Messrs Thomas.
"'I called the Archives to see if they were having a sale,' Dean said with a laugh." Federal agents responded, and worked with the brothers to arrange more purchases from McTague.
Good going, Messrs Thomas.
Monday, March 19, 2007
More on McTague
Several new tidbits of information today on the Denning McTague case:
- The "criminal information" (apparently something like an indictment, but it seems to be less serious, which probably has something to do with McTague's Smiley-like "cooperation") filed against McTague charges him with the theft of 165 archival documents from the National Archives. A press release notes that 161 of the items have been recovered.
- Over at Upward Departure Travis McDade has some more information on the charges, and notes that McTague's guilty plea is scheduled for 4 April. He writes that the charges filed fall under 18 USC 641 (theft of government property) rather than 18 USC 668 (theft of major artwork). This means that if the combined value of McTague's thefts is less than $1000, the only punishment is that the offender "shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both."
Travis: "Another troubling aspect of the statute is this: 'The word ‘value’ means face, par or market value or cost price, either wholesale or retail, whichever is greater.' This valuation scheme stands in direct opposition to the idea that the value of unique national documents of the sort that McTague stole are worth far more to the culture than just their price on the open market. I simply can’t believe that a statute that’s used to prosecute someone who steals a box of government staplers is also being employed to prosecute a man who stole a Jeb Stuart letter."
Agreed. Why on earth wouldn't the prosecutors file under the major artwork section (particularly given that a previous Archives thief was charged that way)?
- Also, some more background on McTague (whose website, by the way, has been removed, but is still available in cache form). It pains me to have to write this, but he attended my alma mater, Union College, graduating in 1989. All the more reason for him to have known better, in my view. Additionally, I have learned that his eBay username was 'hchapel', and he was previously employed as a 'local history librarian' in Nyack, NY (which begs the question of what he swiped from there). His "rare book business" was apparently originally started by his mother before he took it over.
More as it comes ...
- The "criminal information" (apparently something like an indictment, but it seems to be less serious, which probably has something to do with McTague's Smiley-like "cooperation") filed against McTague charges him with the theft of 165 archival documents from the National Archives. A press release notes that 161 of the items have been recovered.
- Over at Upward Departure Travis McDade has some more information on the charges, and notes that McTague's guilty plea is scheduled for 4 April. He writes that the charges filed fall under 18 USC 641 (theft of government property) rather than 18 USC 668 (theft of major artwork). This means that if the combined value of McTague's thefts is less than $1000, the only punishment is that the offender "shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both."
Travis: "Another troubling aspect of the statute is this: 'The word ‘value’ means face, par or market value or cost price, either wholesale or retail, whichever is greater.' This valuation scheme stands in direct opposition to the idea that the value of unique national documents of the sort that McTague stole are worth far more to the culture than just their price on the open market. I simply can’t believe that a statute that’s used to prosecute someone who steals a box of government staplers is also being employed to prosecute a man who stole a Jeb Stuart letter."
Agreed. Why on earth wouldn't the prosecutors file under the major artwork section (particularly given that a previous Archives thief was charged that way)?
- Also, some more background on McTague (whose website, by the way, has been removed, but is still available in cache form). It pains me to have to write this, but he attended my alma mater, Union College, graduating in 1989. All the more reason for him to have known better, in my view. Additionally, I have learned that his eBay username was 'hchapel', and he was previously employed as a 'local history librarian' in Nyack, NY (which begs the question of what he swiped from there). His "rare book business" was apparently originally started by his mother before he took it over.
More as it comes ...
Friday, March 16, 2007
NARA Intern Stole Documents
Just about every news outlet in the country has grabbed this AP story: a Philadelphia man who interned at a National Archives site last summer has been charged with the theft of more than 165 original Civil War documents from the Archives, which he then sold on eBay. Denning McTague, 40, who runs a website for selling rare books, has now admitted the thefts - and, drawing directly from the Smiley playbook, has agreed to help prosecutors recover the documents in exchange for a plea deal.
Documents stolen include an official War Department announcement of the death of President Lincoln, additional War Department telegrams, and a JEB Stuart letter. Prosecutors say most of the materials have been recovered. US Attorny Patrick Meehan said of the items "These are pieces of American history to be preserved, not sold to the highest bidder."
"McTague, who holds master's degrees in history and information systems, was recommended for the unpaid internship by a professor at the State University of New York at Albany," according to a spokesperson for the Archives. The Albany Times-Union confirms that, but said that SUNY Albany would not name the professor.
"As an intern, McTague was responsible for arranging and organizing documents in preparation for the upcoming sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of the Civil War. His responsibilities included ordnance records dating from 1816 to 1907, prosecutors said. While visiting researchers must examine items in secure research rooms, McTague, as a temporary employee, may have had access to the stacks," NARA admitted.
A former curator at this NARA branch was sentenced to 21 months in prison back in 2002 for stealing hundreds of documents from the repository. Clearly the lessons of that case went unlearned. Again, cooperation notwithstanding (they shouldn't really have even needed it here if the materials were sold on eBay), McTague should do some serious time.
[Update: Travis has some thoughts on this over at Upward Departure. He notes this is the fourth reported theft from NARA facilities in recent years, and that "three of the four were only caught when they tried to sell the items on eBay." He's even got a contest: guess McTague's prison sentence, win a signed copy of Travis' book, The Book Thief. His guess = 34 months.]
Documents stolen include an official War Department announcement of the death of President Lincoln, additional War Department telegrams, and a JEB Stuart letter. Prosecutors say most of the materials have been recovered. US Attorny Patrick Meehan said of the items "These are pieces of American history to be preserved, not sold to the highest bidder."
"McTague, who holds master's degrees in history and information systems, was recommended for the unpaid internship by a professor at the State University of New York at Albany," according to a spokesperson for the Archives. The Albany Times-Union confirms that, but said that SUNY Albany would not name the professor.
"As an intern, McTague was responsible for arranging and organizing documents in preparation for the upcoming sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of the Civil War. His responsibilities included ordnance records dating from 1816 to 1907, prosecutors said. While visiting researchers must examine items in secure research rooms, McTague, as a temporary employee, may have had access to the stacks," NARA admitted.
A former curator at this NARA branch was sentenced to 21 months in prison back in 2002 for stealing hundreds of documents from the repository. Clearly the lessons of that case went unlearned. Again, cooperation notwithstanding (they shouldn't really have even needed it here if the materials were sold on eBay), McTague should do some serious time.
[Update: Travis has some thoughts on this over at Upward Departure. He notes this is the fourth reported theft from NARA facilities in recent years, and that "three of the four were only caught when they tried to sell the items on eBay." He's even got a contest: guess McTague's prison sentence, win a signed copy of Travis' book, The Book Thief. His guess = 34 months.]
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