Reader comments
Treasures from past missing from National Archives

Greed and disloyalty are at the heart of these thefts . I hope the new Church library staff has taken measures to prevent loss of the records that have been entrusted to them.

It is a shame that all walks of people driven by whatever has to be so small as to plich the documents that prove our country's history and story.

The penalties in these theft cases seem to be too light to me - they seem like a slap on the wrist. Two years in jail for stealing thousands of dollars worth of historical documents from the government?!

if I robbed a bank for that much I would be sentenced to 10 plus years in jail these documents have so much more value than just money I agree why such short sentences?

People who pick up Indian artifacts in the desert receive greater penalties than the one mentioned...and much more FBI attention seems to be given to these antiquity thefts than is really called for.....preservation of our Nation's history is crucial and those who have used their access to rob this Nation should receive a penalty just short of one who commits treason.....and it is time to punish those who are currently committing the act of treason in this country. Has anybody noticed??? Trade with Communist China....is that not an act of Treason and forbidden by the Constitution????

If I were Obama and the DNC I would make a new document czar, and naturally, my choice would be Sandy Berger. Hey, it worked for the IRS and other appointments, why not at the archives?

While I don't support theft from the government or the bank, or taking things that don't belong to you your comparison to antiquity thefts surprises me as indeed they are "history"just as those documents that are missing.

The recent news about the antiquity case in southern Utah, New Mexico etc. includes, I understand, stealing and many cases with the intent to sell certain items. I understand (years ago) that a good pot would sell for $8000 or more. I have no idea of current values but we have heard big prices on documents as well.

Yes,I think punishment should be equivalent for the act of stealing. Is it worse to steal a historical item than a current item that may be historical someday. I think I have even heard that some items of Church history have dissappeared & certainly a few years back there were even those making money a forging historical items.

If an Indian artifact looks so good on your mantle, then replicas should be easy to make, but that is not where the money is. Could that be the common motivation between the theft of documents or artifacts. PS-No punishment in SouthernUtah yet?