THE MAN WHO LOVED PRESIDENTIAL MEMORABILIA TOO MUCH?

A published presidential historian was one of two men caught with millions of dollars in documents from the Maryland Historical Society, including some signed by President Abraham Lincoln, according to court documents.

Baltimore police charged Barry Landau, 63, and Jason Savedoff, 24, both of New York City, on Saturday with theft of more than $100,000 and they were ordered held on Monday. The FBI is involved in the investigation under a federal statute that covers thefts from museums.

An employee told police he had been watching Savedoff and Landau for several hours, believing their behavior to be suspicious. He called police after he saw Savedoff conceal a document in a portfolio and walk it out of the library, according to court documents.

A search of a locker at the building that Savedoff was carrying a key to turned up 60 documents. That included papers signed by Lincoln worth $300,000, numerous presidential inaugural ball invitations and programs worth $500,000, a signed Statue of Liberty commemoration valued at $100,000 and a signed Washington monument commemoration valued at $100,000, court documents state.

To read the complete article, see: New York Men Charged in Maryland Historical Society Presidential Artifacts Theft (www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=48988)

To read the complete article, see: Presidential Historian and Colleague Arrested in Theft of Documents in Maryland (www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/us/13historian.html)

Federal authorities searched the Manhattan apartment Wednesday of a collector and author charged with stealing documents from the Maryland Historical Society, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Barry H. Landau, 63, and another man continue to sit in the Baltimore City Detention Center, held on no bond. Landau's attorney formally filed a petition for a bail hearing in Baltimore Circuit Court and is awaiting a date.

Landau and 24-year-old Jason Savedoff were arrested Saturday at the Maryland Historical Society after police say the pair tried to steal documents, including one signed by Abraham Lincoln. Baltimore police charged each with one count of theft over $100,000.

Landau, who lives two blocks south of New York's Central Park on West 57th Street, is said to have the largest private collection of presidential inaugural memorabilia outside of museums of the presidential archives. He was a former White House protocol officer and has connections to New York, Washington and the Hollywood elite.

Earlier this week, the FBI alerted museums, small libraries and historical societies throughout the region to check whether the pair might have committed similar thefts. On Tuesday, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania confirmed that Landau and Savedoff, who used an alias, had visited more than a dozen times and aroused suspicions with "odd" behavior.

Lee Arnold, senior director of the library and collections at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, said that he and his staff were reviewing numerous "call slips" filled out by Landau and Savedoff during more than a dozen visits to the Philadelphia institution since December.

"We keep those slips forever, and we're looking at those dates to see if anything is amiss," he said.

To read the complete article, see: FBI searches N.Y. home of jailed memorabilia collector (www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city
/bs-md-ci-landau-raid-20110713,0,6692669.story)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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