Missing in Action: Artifacts from the Nat'l Archives

WASHINGTON -- The National Archives goes to great lengths to protect national treasures, such as the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence, but a WTOP investigation has found that hundreds of items are not secure.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of irreplaceable artifacts are missing – either stolen or lost.

Handwritten letters written by Ulysses S. Grant, a photo of President Ronald Reagan with Margaret Thatcher and a portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt are just some of the historic artifacts that have disappeared.

Dozens of presidential pardons also have disappeared. Archives records obtained by WTOP show the presidential pardons are just a fraction of what one career National Archive employee was able to steal and sell for more than $200,000.

One of the documents found its way on to eBay. The employee involved pleaded guilty and much of what he stole was recovered.

The Office of the Inspector General for the National Archives and Records Administration says a missing painting of FDR could be in a landfill somewhere. It may have been inadvertently thrown away.

The report by the inspector general also says one missing artifact is believed to have been purchased by an unnamed city's mayor and put on display in city hall.

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