Acclaimed Presidential Historian Accused of Stealing Rare Documents
- Posted on July 14, 2011 at 1:51am by
Jessie Abrams
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When police arrested Barry Landau, a well-known presidential historian and collector, and accused him of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of historical documents on Saturday, it kind of makes you wonder about where he got the rest of his collection.
A recent CNN article describes Landau as “one of the foremost collectors of presidential artifacts and memorabilia. His collection comprises more than 26,000 invitations and menus.”
An American Digest issue from more than three years ago calls Landau the owner of the largest private collection of presidential treasure in the country. He even owns an invitation to dine with President and Mrs. Washington — a very rare and valuable national artifact.
It’s incredible what he actually owns. Take a look at Landau showing off just a fraction of his collection in this CBS video from 2001:
That’s a huge collection! And this recent arrest unfortunately calls its history into question.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is getting involved too. As of now, authorities haven’t decided whether to categorize the alleged crime under state or federal law, a bureau spokesman in Baltimore explained in this New York Times article. The case gets a little hazy because of its scale and the nature of the allegedly stolen materials.
Here’s the back story:
Landau‘s suspicious actions at the Maryland Historical Society on Saturday morning caught the attention of a society employee who called authorities after he saw Landau’s accomplice conceal a document in a portfolio and walk it out of the library. The New York Times reports police later found a key in Landau’s pocket which led them to a locker in a nearby building that contained 60 documents.
Among the documents were some signed by Abraham Lincoln, numerous inaugural ball invitations and programs worth about $500,000 and signed commemorations of the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument.
Landau is no stranger to Washington, these types of documents, or any holes in his personal stock. He’s served nine presidents and worked with every White House since Lyndon Johnson to plan historic events. He’s been a part of every Inaugural Committee since 1965.
Image courtesy CNN
He told CNN about working to cultivate and uphold President Ronald Reagan’s image to the public saying:
“Ronald Reagan, a great patriot, was a natural flag-waving American, and First Lady Nancy Reagan, his most trusted aide, was always on hand to make certain that her husband was presented in the perfect picture with the flags properly positioned.”
He‘s pictured here to the right of Nancy Reagan during former President Ronald Reagan’s inaugural gala in 1985:
The courts denied Landau any bail. His attorney, Steven D. Silverman, called the denial unreasonable and filed for a bail review Wednesday.
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RayOne
Posted on July 15, 2011 at 11:15amHave him turn over his entire collection to the US National Archives and sentence him to time served.
Report Post »Rowwdy
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 9:06pmI think the guy has a lot of phony pieces in his “collection”. As a collector, he should know you don’t handle a 200+ year old piece of paper without wearing acid free gloves. Not to mention, it would not be out in the open air to collect even a 1 speck of dust. Plus, a collection of this magnitude would be housed in a climate controlled area with NO fluctuation in temperatures. I guess stealing isn’t his only talent.
Report Post »wzd1a
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 7:25pmSandy Burgler X 100?
Report Post »suz
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 6:00pmdidn’t read this article but maybe this guy was hired/solicited to steal, thus, erasing history. perhaps this has been done in the past, say 100 years or so…hmmm.
Report Post »Mapache
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 1:10pmMaybe somebody should get TSA to check his pants, he may have learned some tips from Sandy Berger……hmmm….maybe Berger was feeding his habit.
Report Post »Gypsy123
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 1:02pmHe shouldn‘t steal the government doesn’t like competition. I love that bumper sticker
Report Post »Scruff
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 12:38pmHe must be really old to have received an invitation to dinner with George and Martha!
Report Post »MinutemanOnTheBorder
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 9:09amFight illegal immigration in your community at http://www.americanborder.blogspot.com!!
Report Post »NSWPP
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 8:31am“Landau”? Hmm….what kind of name does that sound like to you?
missy8s
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 10:09amWhat a shock, an idiot that admits his Nazism by his user name and his user icon making an Antisemitic remark about a person with a German surname, what a shock.
Report Post »Just4fun
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 8:30amHe’s working on his resume for a seat in congress.
Report Post »Just4fun
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 8:24amToo bad it wasn’t the Obama Healthcare Bill and his unconstitutional executive orders.
Report Post »OUTRIDER WRITER
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 8:04amIf he’s been stealing many of these rare artifacts, wonder how many he’s managed to counterfeit?
Report Post »Danola
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 7:49amSomeone should look into the other Presidential Historian, Douglas Brinkley. He has made the truth disappear many, many times.
Report Post »tinahdee
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 6:28amGlenn Beck needs to hire a copy editor. There’s no apostrophe in the possessive “its”. An exclamation point in a serious news story? That just looks amateurish. High school intern, anyone?
Report Post »Lone Ranger
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 6:34amRats, you got to it before I did. Drives me crazy.
I blame the public schools.
Report Post »NancyO
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 7:41amHow about “woken”, “overly”, “criteria” and “media” as singular nouns, “as best as”, “much of a”, and a thousand other misuses of the English language that we hear daily in conversation, commentary, and news articles? Seems to me we are convering our language into a street version of what was once a beautiful, expressive way to communicate.
Report Post »Airgun
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 8:59amThings do not “impact” other things, although “ain’t” is now a word.
Report Post »It is normal practice now ( tragically) to bastardize the language according to general usage.
By the way, “bling” was introduced by a rapper’s 2 year old, after she saw her daddy dressed for work.
That’s appropriate for the average head-in-the-sand ET and TMZ fan.
Life = art, anyone?
Brit Chick
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 4:39pmWhat about the terrible grammar of The Chosen One? And they reckon he is so brilliant? It may just be that he thinks we are all too dumb to understand big words and he needs to keep it simple for us little people.
Report Post »DeltaHawk
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 4:50amLet the thieving SOB warm up a cell for Obama! God is just! America is very tired of the disease in Washington,
Report Post »dizzyinthedark
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 6:16amAmen Deltahawk, I’m in total agreement with you!
Report Post »cripplecreek
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 7:28amIf the standards were the same for all, he would get a slap on the wrist and a short suspension of his security clearance like Sandy Berger.
Report Post »ramburner
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 4:23amNo one likes a thief! Fry his butt! He must fit right into the Washington culture now, but glad he got caught! ALL of wht he thought he owned should be returned to national archieves no matter who they may rightfully belong to, part of his criminal retribution!
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 4:14amHmmmm…
Report Post »ONE PIECE
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 2:43amYou do the crime then you do the TIME!!!!
Report Post »Liberty7
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 8:08am…not in today’s America….he is going to get booked on the talk show circuit and lambast the partisan prosecution team after a judge throws out the case or an illiterate jury of his “peers” releases him as they tell the world in their post trial tv interviews, “Bush made him do it.”
Report Post »glenng2
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 2:34amLock him up!
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 2:26amand Sandy Burglur is free ..
Report Post »Shellback
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 8:49amI knew someone would be sharp enough to mention Sandy Burgler. WJC just said that’s Sandy being Sandy, he is just “sloppy”. So Landau could use the “sloppy” defense.
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on July 14, 2011 at 2:15ambirds of a feather
he fits right in with the criminals he hung out with in washington………………….the large majority of our politicians
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