Animal prints theft collection
Animal prints theft collection
This collection consists of circa 700 color prints stolen from the journals Ibis (the journal of the British Ornithologists’ Union) and Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, owned by the Fondren Library. The prints date from 1859-1915 and feature birds, bird eggs, bird nests and other animals. The prints were recovered after Blumberg’s 1991 arrest and returned to Fondren Library. The bags in which they are stored are the bags which Blumberg used for them. The folder names for the bags reflect his labeling on the bags. Theft correspondence and research dates from 1980-2004 and represents the Fondren Library’s efforts to cooperate with and assist in the Blumberg investigation. Additionally, Series III includes plates recovered from other unidentified sources, probably unrelated to the thefts from Ibis and the Journal of Zoology. These prints were found in the collections at the Woodson Researcher Center with no provenance information, but are similar in nature to the other plates in this collection, and so are being included here.
- Access Restriction
-
This material is open for research.
Conditions Governing AccessStored off-site at the Library Service Center and requires 24-hour notice for retrieval. Please contact the Woodson Research Center at 713-348-2586 or woodson@rice.edu for more information.
- Dates
- Creation: 1859-2004
- Extent
- 1.5 Linear Feet (3 boxes)
- Related Names
- Rice University
- Rice University
- Blumberg, Stephen Carrie
- Language of Materials
- English
Composite of information on stolen plates
Two page sheet detailing the bibliographic description of the journal Ibis and police reports detailing contents of plastic bags containing stolen plates.
Hartfield catalogue of rare books
Catalogue from Hartfield’s Fine and Rare Books store dated February 11, 1985. Contains information of the value of some of the stolen plates (listing # L-74).
Printouts of Fondren Library’s journal holdings
Printout details the location and volumes of journals held by Fondren from which plates were stolen.
Bibliographic listings and police report
Photocopies of illustration listings contained in Alfred Guernsey’s book “Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War” dated 1868.
Listings of illustrations in volumes
Bibliographic listings of Fondren’s holdings that are missing (with sample plates), dated May 12, 1981.
Collection of catalog listings
A collection of handwritten and typed notes containing bibliographic listings of journals and books originally thought to hold the stolen plates. Annotations by librarians concerning the status of the plates are also present.
Photocopies of Ibis plate listings
A collection photocopies from Ibis’s plate listings in the order in which they appear in their original publications.
Titles not reviewed or reported to F.B.I.
The Shinn Lists (1982)
One hundred forty-four page booklet edited by William Moffett of Oberlin College listing the books stolen by another book thief, James Shinn. This booklet was created to facilitate communication between universities that had been victims of Shinn when the recovered books ended up at the wrong libraries.
"Stephen Blumberg and His Stolen Books"
Printout from the Web of the November 1991 edition of the Abbey Newsletter detailing Stephen Blumberg’s life and history of his thefts.
Series II: Prints, 1859-1915
1864
1865
1866
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1874
1875
1876
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1887
1889
1896
1897
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1900
no date
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1867
1869
1870
1874
1876
1877
1882
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
Citation
Cite Item
Animal prints theft collection, 1859-2004, MS 544 Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.
Cite Item Description
Animal prints theft collection, 1859-2004, MS 544 Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University. https://archives.library.rice.edu/repositories/2/resources/470 Accessed January 20, 2025.