The Drew University student accused of stealing historic letters from his school archives exchanged his own correspondences—incriminating emails that will be used against him in a court case. William Scott, a freshman lacrosse player with a job in the archives on the side, initially got in touch with a UK-based antiques dealer via its contact form, reports City Room. “I have 3 handwritten letters by John Wesley and a small case made of wood from his pulpit,” reads the note. Next, he sent over scans.
Once a deal was agreed upon ($8,000 for the lot) the 18-year-old allegedly packaged and sent the letters. “I am just checking to see if you had received the letters yet,” he writes in one later email. The antiques merchant confirms the receipt and only then asks where exactly they came from. “I am unsure where where [my grandfather] acquired them, I am sorry. In the same box I found the Wesley letters in I also found letters from President McKinley, President Roosevelt, President Nixon and President Eisenhower. He co-owned and operated several bars,” Scott responds. See full text of the emails here.
As though the poorly worded, sketchily-detailed emails weren’t enough, the letters arrived damaged from an amateur packing job, leading the dealer to contact the archives at Drew. Scott was charged Monday and could serve ten years in jails, though one expert said his infraction wasn’t the work of a criminal mastermind. “Let me tell you,’’ said Travis McDade, a professor of library science at the University of Illinois, who writes about the theft of rare documents, “archive theft is the easiest thing going. It’s super simple to steal from archives and from special collections.”
