Abstractions of Justice: The Library of Congress's Great Manuscripts Robbery, 1896-1897

In the fall of 1897, the Library of Congress opened the Thomas Jefferson Building and left behind an unfortunate chapter in its history. During the spring of that year two employees were brought to trial and lightly punished for stealing rare materials from the Library, then located in the United States Capitol. Fred Shelley's 1948 American Archivist article discusses this incident, but is incomplete in both content and sources. This essay fully describes the events surrounding the Library of Congress's first major recorded theft of materials and reviews the present status of security at the Library. In the process, this article also discusses general security concerns for modern libraries and archives.