WHAT A HEEL: Hinky Historian
Author and presidential memorabilia collector Barry H. Landau (AKA “America’s presidential historian”) was arrested at the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore and charged with stealing historical documents, The New York Times reports:
As the F.B.I. continued to investigate … other historical societies were checking their records to see if he had ever visited. Laura Washington, a spokeswoman for the New-York Historical Society, said that he had, and that staff members were going through the records to determine how often.
Lee Arnold, senior director of the library and collections at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania tells The Times that Landau and his 24-year-old research assistant Jason Savedoff – who was posing as Landau’s nephew - had aroused his suspicions during 17 visits between December and May because “Savedoff had filled out call slips incorrectly and worked through boxes of material in alphabetical order rather than by topic”; they “exasperated” his staff with vague requests for materials that amounted to hundreds of boxes of documents; and the pair provided an incorrect address and inactive telephone number so it was impossible to contact them.
In the past, Landau had falsely represented himself as a “60 Minutes” producer and as assistant chief of protocol for President Gerald Ford.
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