Two letters written by Ulysses S. Grant were reported missing from Southern Illinois University’s rare documents collection February 11. The loss was discovered after a National Archives office inquired about one letter, which the library was unable to locate. In the course of their search, library staff realized a second Grant letter was unaccounted for.
According to the February 15 SIU Daily Egyptian, police have no suspects. Though a log is kept of all library patrons who look at the rare documents collection, no one is sure when the letters disappeared, since the last comprehensive inventory was done about 30 years ago.
It is not even certain that a crime has been committed. David Koch, associate dean for special collections and development, offered the hope that the letters had simply been misplaced. “Mostly when things are missing it’s because of our own human error.”
Posted February 21, 2000.