Barry Landau
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Barry H. Landau (born c. 1948) is a noted thief of presidential artifacts, collector of presidential artifacts, author, and "self-styled ' America's Presidential Historian'". In July 2011, Landau's associate, 24-year-old Jason Savedoff, was seen taking a document out of a library. After an investigation and various searches, Landau and Savedoff were "charged with stealing valuable historical documents from the
Maryland Historical Society The Maryland Center for History and Culture (MCHC), formerly the Maryland Historical Society (MdHS), . founded on March 1, 1844, is the oldest cultural institution in the U.S. state of Maryland. The organization "collects, preserves, and inte ...
and conspiring to steal documents from other archives." After pleading guilty, Landau was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in June 2012.


Biography

Landau stated his interest in the presidency began at the age of 10, when his mother took him to see then President Dwight D. Eisenhower; he claimed to have spoken with both the president and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower at that time. '' The Wall Street Journal'', however, reported that he wrote a letter to the president and received a card in reply. He worked as a press agent in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. He also claimed that "he was a protocol officer under President Gerald R. Ford and that he once traveled to Moscow with President
Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
," though the presidential libraries could find no supporting evidence. He amassed such a large collection of presidential memorabilia that, in 2005, Larry Bird, a curator of the
National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...
, stated that he possessed "the most extensive collection of inaugural memorabilia outside the Smithsonian, the National Archives or the presidential libraries." For the 2001 inauguration of
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
, the
Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies A Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is a special joint committee of the United States Congress formed every four years to manage presidential inaugurations. Such committee has been formed every four years since the 1901 inauguration of Willi ...
turned to him for china plates for the inaugural luncheon. In 2007, Landau wrote a book titled ''The President's Table'' and showed off some prized pieces of his collection on '' The Martha Stewart Show''. He also served as a commentator on CNN and NBC's '' Today Show''.


Thefts

The staff of the
Maryland Historical Society The Maryland Center for History and Culture (MCHC), formerly the Maryland Historical Society (MdHS), . founded on March 1, 1844, is the oldest cultural institution in the U.S. state of Maryland. The organization "collects, preserves, and inte ...
became suspicious of the behavior of frequent visitors Landau and 24-year-old Jason Savedoff, whom Landau had identified as his nephew, though they are not related. Landau "certainly was very personable; he had class. He knew how to conduct himself in a research library, but Savedoff, of whom little is known, was 'rough around the edges' and 'repeatedly asked naive questions,' he said". On July 9, 2011, a staff member saw Savedoff take a document out of the society's library in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...
and police were called. They found sixty documents hidden in Savedoff's laptop case in a locker, several of them having been signed out by Landau. According to Landau’s plea agreement, from December 2010 through July 2011, Landau and Savedoff stole documents from numerous institutions, including the Maryland Historical Society, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Connecticut Historical Society, the University of Vermont, the New York Historical Society, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, a component of the National Archives. Papers on file in federal court in Maryland show that the FBI also recovered documents stolen from historical societies or museums in Connecticut and Vermont. In total, more than ten thousand items were taken. Their worth has been estimated as high as 2.5 million. Items stolen included letters by
Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
,
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock,
Francis Scott Key Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet from Frederick, Maryland, who wrote the lyrics for the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". Key observed the British bombardment ...
, Karl Marx, Thomas Paine, Edgar Allan Poe and
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
. Seven signed 'reading copies' of speeches by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (the actual copies of the speeches Roosevelt read from, including his handwritten edits and additions) were also taken. These included the reading copy of Roosevelt's inaugural address. Landau sold four of these speeches to a collector for $35,000. All were recovered. Landau and Savedoff were jailed in Baltimore and indicted by a federal grand jury in late July 2011. Landau was released with GPS monitoring. Savedoff surrendered his American and Canadian passports, and was released on $250,000 bail. Both defendants pleaded guilty, Savedoff in October 2011 and Landau in February 2012. On June 27, 2012, Landau was sentenced to seven years in prison. He also had to pay restitution of $46,525 to dealers who had unwittingly purchased stolen documents from him.


Return of documents

The rightful owners of all the stolen documents recovered have been identified. , only twenty percent of the documents have been returned to them, with the remainder to be returned in the following months.


References


External links

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Documents stolen by collector returned to museums
thehistoryblog.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Landau, Barry American collectors 20th-century American Jews American people convicted of theft People convicted of book theft Document theft Living people 1948 births 21st-century American Jews