From the Los Angeles Times
Reagan library can't fully account for 80,000 artifacts
A 'near universal' security breakdown left items open to theft by
insiders, an audit says.
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Catherine Saillant
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

November 8, 2007

WASHINGTON — The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is unable to find or
account for tens of thousands of valuable mementos of Reagan's White
House years because a "near universal" security breakdown left the
artifacts vulnerable to pilfering by insiders, an audit by the National
Archives inspector general has concluded.

Inspector General Paul Brachfeld said that his office was investigating
allegations that a former employee stole Reagan memorabilia but that the
probe had been hampered by the facility's sloppy record-keeping.

"We have been told by sources that a person who had access capability
removed holdings," Brachfeld said in an interview. "But we can't lock in
as to what those may be."

The hilltop complex near Simi Valley that houses Reagan's papers -- as
well as the Air Force One that served as the "Flying White House" for
seven presidents -- is the most visited of the nation's 12 presidential
libraries. Many of those facilities are understaffed. And many are
struggling to keep track of hundreds of thousands of presidential gifts,
including valuable objects bestowed by foreign leaders, American folk
crafts, and T-shirts and political buttons.

But, investigators said, they encountered the most serious problems at
the Reagan library, a finding that may mortify fans of the late
president, who often inveighed against government inefficiency.

About six months ago, an archivist was accused of stealing from the
collections and was fired, said a longtime volunteer at the library who
asked not to be named for fear of reprisal. "It's just awful," she said.
"He was someone in a position of trust."

Of particular interest is whether the artifacts that are unaccounted for
include pieces from a large collection of ornamented Western belt buckles
given to Reagan over the years by admirers who knew of his attachment to
his ranch.

A National Archives spokeswoman said the agency had accepted the audit's
criticisms and was working to fix the problems. Some library volunteers
say they were called in this summer to start a massive inventory project
that could take years to complete.

The theft of historical objects from library collections has become a
serious problem across the country in recent years. Against that
background, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) pushed for the audit of
presidential libraries. He feared that artifacts associated with former
presidents might attract thieves seeking to supply a burgeoning market
for memorabilia.

"This report is a wake-up," Grassley said. "These papers, records and
other items have historical value and should be safeguarded for the
education and benefit of future generations of Americans."

Most gifts to presidents become property of the American people, and
presidential libraries use them to tell a story in ways that documents
alone cannot. The gifts are considered part of the libraries' museum
collections. The Reagan library, for example, has displayed some of the
belt buckles given to the former president, and an exhibit of First Lady
Nancy Reagan's dresses and suits will be staged this week.

The audit found that the Reagan library was unable to properly account
for more than 80,000 artifacts out of its collection of some 100,000 such
items, and "may have experienced loss or pilferage the scope of which
will likely never be known."

It blamed the problem on lack of supervision, concluding that "adequate
management controls were neither implemented nor properly monitored."

It also found numerous storage lapses, such as artworks stacked on top of
one another, and sculptures and vases unwrapped and lying on their sides
on open shelves -- in an area prone to earthquakes.

Auditors tried to locate a sample of 21 items from a larger list of
"high-value objects." One was missing -- a vase -- even though library
records indicated it was accounted for.

And nine of 26 items in two as-yet unpacked boxes had gone missing. Among
them: a hand-crocheted American flag and an elephant figurine.

Norma Stafford, a former docent at the library, recalls that the huge
basement warehouse used to store gifts was in disarray during the years
she volunteered there.

"There were lots of boxes that seemed to be stacked upon one another. . .
. They had been pulled out of their place and not put back," Stafford
said. The audit found records indicating dozens of items were on display,
when in fact the exhibits had been taken down, in some cases years ago.

Shelly Hale, a current docent, said she was called to the library in
August for an urgent chore. She was told the library was installing a
computer system to track each of the 100,000 gifts stored in the
warehouse.

But first the library needed help refiling documents indicating who had
checked out a particular item. There were "stacks and stacks" of unfiled
papers, she said, each pertaining to an individual artifact.

National Archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said the agency welcomed the
audit and was taking its findings very seriously. Part of the problem,
she said, is that presidential libraries originally did not have the same
strict preservation guidelines used by most museums. That has been
corrected, she said, but funding for the libraries is still an issue.

"Our resources are spread pretty thin," Cooper said. "We are trying very
hard to ameliorate this situation. We are looking at these
recommendations and trying to put them into play."

ricardo.alonso-zaldivar@ latimes.com

catherine.saillant@latimes.com

Alonso-Zaldivar reported from Washington and Saillant from Ventura
County.