Experts say the lure of a quick sale on the Internet is behind a rash of historical document thefts from libraries, universities and other archives in Kentucky and around the country.
Recently in Louisville, police arrested a 70-year-old retired executive who allegedly took more than 53 documents and other objects from the Filson Historical Society. And last year, four men assaulted a librarian and took rare manuscripts and sketches from Transylvania University. They were each sentenced last week to seven years in a federal prison.
A boom in popular interest in the antiquities trade, fanned by the Internet and appraisal shows on television, could be providing motivation for the crimes, some experts said.
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