Recent events, such as the arrest of contract parking lot att endants at the 

Nati onal Air and Space Museum’s (NASM) Udvar-Hazy Center, may seem 

unique, but crimes have occurred at the Smithsonian since its earliest years. 

The att racti on of valuable arti facts, disputes between people, and mental 

illness have all contributed to the steady drumbeat of CSI. Fortunately, these 

events occur less oft en than in the general populati on. This overview will 

describe the types of crimes that have taken place at the Smithsonian and 

provide notable examples of each.

Crime at the Smithsonian Institution

C SI

Crimes against Property

Even before the Smithsonian 

was founded, the U.S. nati onal 

collecti ons were subject to 

theft . In 1840, the Imaum of 

Muscat (now Oman) sent gift s 

to President Marti n Van Buren, 

including a box of pearls and 

a gold-mounted sword. The 

President sent the gift s to the 

Nati onal Insti tute Gallery at 

the Patent Offi ce to place on 

display. Additi onal foreign gift s 

of gems and precious metals 

followed. These treasures 

proved too tempti ng to a local 

gang of thieves, who repeatedly stole items and used 

them to barter the freedom 

of an arrested gang member. 

In disgust, the Commissioner 

of Patents had the valuables 

deposited at the U.S. Treasury. 

These valuables did not come 

to the Smithsonian in the 1858 

transfer of the nati onal collecti ons from the Patent Offi ce. In 

had a box for contributi ons to 

the Washington Monument 

constructi on. The box was the 

target of repeated break-ins. 

At that ti me, the grounds 

around the Castle were not 

prime real estate. A feti d canal 

cut the Castle off from downtown Washington, and the trip 

to the bridge took one near 

the red-light district located by 

the railroad yards. Secretary 

Spencer Baird fi nally accepted 

the valuables in 1887 when 

cases with electrical alarms 

were installed in the new U.S. 

Nati onal Museum building, 

now known as the Arts and 

Industries Building (AIB). 

For many years, security relied 

on the watchmen and alarms 

for buildings and cases. In 

the late 1960s, Smithsonian 

staff created the fi rst Security 

Committ ee, led by World War 

II veterans who had worked in 

military security. They were 

1874, when Secretary Joseph 

Henry was asked to take 

custody of them, he refused, 

citi ng several robberies, including an att ack on a Smithsonian 

night watchman by a thug with 

a vial of chloroform, pistol, 

and Bowie knife. Secretary 

Henry would only accept the 

valuables if the government 

provided a safe for storing valuables with a dedicated watchman. In the 1860s, the Castle 

Museum in the Patent Offi ce 

Building, 1856, SI Archives
2

concerned about the safety 

of the museums during civil 

rights and anti -war demonstrati ons. Much to their dismay, 

Secretary S. Dillon Ripley held 

training sessions on how to 

welcome demonstrators to 

the museums in an att empt 

to reach new audiences. The 

Security Committ ee established 

ID badges, property passes 

for removing property from 

museums, and “batt le bills” 

with steps to follow in situati ons such as bomb threats. 

Despite these precauti ons, 

there was an unprecedented 

amount of theft in Smithsonian 

faciliti es over the 1970s and 

1980s. Among the highprofi le crimes was the 1981 

theft at the Nati onal Museum 

of American History (NMAH) 

of four objects, including a 

set of George Washington’s 

false teeth. That same year, 

two men att empted to sell a 

historic machine gun that had 

been stored at NASM’s Garber 

In 1979, a volunteer was caught 

stealing a shark’s tooth and fi sh 

fossil worth $10,300 from the 

Nati onal Museum of Natural 

History (NMNH). Rigorous 

background checks were 

insti tuted in response to these 

“inside jobs.” Nevertheless, 

one of the game wardens 

at the Smithsonian Tropical 

Research Insti tute (STRI) was 

discovered assisti ng poachers hunti ng on Barro Colorado 

Island in the 1990s.

Smithsonian security offi cers 

have also thwarted several 

theft s. In 1975, a noted 

German mineralogist stole 

minerals from the NMNH 

Mineral Hall. A new guard 

noted that the elderly man 

seemed to spend an unusually long ti me in the hall, and 

seemed more focused on the 

actual cases than the minerals. 

Kept under observati on all day, 

the man was seen removing 

several specimens, and was 

arrested as he left the museum. 

Security guards again were 

called into acti on on September 

19, 1981, when an ex-clerk 

Facility. And in 1982, stamps 

worth $21,000 were stolen 

from the NMAH.

In some cases, the theft s were 

“inside jobs” by Smithsonian 

staff or volunteers. In the 

1970s and 1980s, there were 

a series of theft s by the guard 

force, which had been infi ltrated by a ring of ex-cons. In 

additi on to a good bit of offi ce 

equipment, one of the stolen 

items was a Charles Wilkes 

medal in the NMAH that was 

melted down and never recovered. Another guard was 

arrested and charged with 

stealing two swords, two gold 

medals, and a snuffb ox from 

NMAH exhibits; two other 

men were also charged with 

receiving the stolen goods. 

The sword was returned to the 

Smithsonian, minus its goldand-diamond-encrusted hilt. 

Also returned were a cigarett e 

box, the silver pen used to sign 

the Treaty of Paris, and frames 

of politi cal butt ons. 

Watchmen for the Nati onal Museum, c. 1900, SI Archives

Museum clerk who aided arresti ng 

offi cers, SI Archives
3

with the Smithsonian museum 

shops att empted to steal more 

than $2,500 from the NMNH 

shop. The armed thief walked 

in on shop employees, and 

took money out of the register drawers. As he left , staff 

pushed a security butt on and 

Smithsonian security guards 

apprehended the thief at the 

museum’s exit.

fl ames, many library books 

and personal belongings were 

stolen when dragged outside 

for safekeeping. Guards were 

soon posted, but not before 

many items disappeared. 

In 1978, the Collier Aviati on 

Trophy, normally on display at 

the NASM, disappeared from 

the Nati onal Aviati on Club’s 

meeti ng at the Mayfl ower 

Hotel. And in December 1984, 

Connie Carpenter presented 

her 1984 Olympic Games bicycle-racing outf it to the NMAH. 

Before it could be transported 

In 1985, the FBI announced the arrest of a suspect in the theft of back to the museum, however, 

four Civil War documents from a display in the Nati onal Portrait 

Gallery (NPG). Three of the four documents were recovered 

when a dealer notifi ed the Smithsonian that the thief had tried to 

sell them. From 1990 to 1994, a NASM curator stole $24,000 of 

patches and memorabilia. A dealer alerted the Smithsonian that 

the curator was off ering exceedingly rare items for sale. 

Aft er being placed under observati on and caught in the 

act, he pleaded guilty to the theft s. In 1995, Thomas 

Moran’s Valley of Cuernavaca, which had disappeared from the SAAM collecti on 20 years 

earlier, was returned. The Adam A. Weschler 

& Son aucti on house received the painti ng on 

consignment and, while performing a routi ne 

check on its provenance, discovered it was 

stolen.

Objects are most in danger when in transit or 

out of their normal storage locati on. In January of 

1865, a fi re badly damaged the Castle. While some 

object collecti ons and documents were destroyed by 

Thomas Moran’s Valley of Cuernavaca, 1903, oil on canvas, Smithsonian 

American Art Museum

Dealers have played both positi ve and negati ve roles in the 

theft of museum objects. In 

1980, the FBI announced that 

a gold-and-diamond snuffb ox 

made for Catherine the Great, 

stolen from the Smithsonian 

American Art Museum (SAAM) 

in 1979, had been stripped of 

its diamonds and melted down 

in 1980. 

The snuffb ox’s fate was 

uncovered during the FBI’s 

“Operati on Greenthumb” investi gati on into Washington, D.C.–

area gold and silver dealers 

who allegedly bought stolen 

items. Only 25 diamonds were 

recovered from the more than 

200 that had been encrusted 

on the stolen box. 

Fire in the Castle, retouched 

photo by Alexander Gardner, 

SI Archives
4

the outf it was stolen from the trunk of a curator’s rental 

car in Oakland, California.

The Nati onal Zoological Park (NZP) has had unique 

problems with crimes against animals, such as boys 

throwing rocks at fl amingos’ legs. One of the most 

dangerous theft s was of two Gabon vipers from 

the Zoo in 1983. A 16-year-old boy fascinated by 

repti les was criti cally injured when he smashed 

a display case one night, placed the vipers in a 

plasti c bag, and was bitt en by the poisonous 

snakes. 

Taxidermist Edgar Laybourne working on model of a reti culated python, 

1960s, SI Archives

Destructi on of Property

Deranged individuals have, on occasion, att empted to destroy 

museum property. As early as 1857, a museum keeper reported 

that a man tried to break the Andrew Jackson sarcophagus at the 

Nati onal Museum. In 1969, Lampros Marines smashed a case 

in the NMNH Repti le Exhibit and used a butcher knife to decapitate the reti culated python and king cobra and stab the Komodo 

dragon. 

never personally profi ted 

and all the equipment was used 

for observatory work, it was a 

violati on of Federal property 

management laws. Despite 

Smithsonian att empts to negoti ate a plea deal without prison 

ti me, the scienti st served 

several years in prison. Under 

Secretary James Bradley felt 

that Smithsonian management 

had failed this employee by not 

providing proper oversight and 

subsequently created the Offi ce 

of the Inspector General to 

identi fy and correct problems 

internally before something like 

that could happen again.

Financial Crimes 

Secretary Samuel P. Langley 

had a trusted assistant who 

streamlined processes. When 

a suspicious Richard Rathbun 

served as Acti ng Secretary in 

1905, he checked the books. 

The assistant, who by then had 

assumed the joint positi on of 

Accountant and Disbursement 

Clerk, was convicted for having 

embezzled some $60,000 of 

the Smithsonian’s endowment 

and $7,000 in Federal appropriati ons. As a result, fi scal 

processes were ti ghtened up.

Misappropriati on of Property

In the 1970s, a scienti st at the new Whipple Observatory in 

Arizona found a creati ve way to get the equipment he needed. 

He requested excess GSA property that he did not need and then 

traded it for the machinery he actually wanted. Although he 
5

In the 1980s, the manager of the Zoo’s exhibits department 

wrote contracts to a former employee for signs that were never 

received, and the two simply split the proceeds of the contracts. 

Suspicious colleagues contacted the Inspector General, who 

contacted the FBI and the perpetrators were caught and prosecuted. And just recently, the parking lot att endants at the UdvarHazy Center were skimming parking fees unti l arrested by the FBI. 

Interesti ngly, in all three cases of embezzlement, the perpetrators 

were caught aft er suspicious staff reported their concerns.

Crimes Against People 

There have been many assaults 

of individuals on the Nati onal 

Mall, especially aft er dark. On 

at least three occasions, NMNH 

staff members have att acked 

colleagues in their offi ce areas. 

In the 1930s, an eccentric 

aide in the geology division 

(and who actually lived in the 

museum) att acked a colleague, 

who took refuge atop a table. 

In the 1970s, an anthropology 

department staff er att acked his 

supervisor. In the 1980s a staff 

member assaulted a colleague 

aft er a dispute over a travel 

voucher and was then reti red 

on disability. The Smithsonian 

Employee Assistance Program 

and Ombudsman try to stave 

off such crises today. 

Other crimes against people 

have included sexual assaults 

against children, a problem that 

can occur whenever unsupervised children are allowed to 

wander unsupervised in public 

places. In the 1850s, Secretary 

Henry fi red a taxidermist and 

banished him from the city 

when he was caught molesti ng 

a young boy in the men’s room. 

Sexual harassment was a more 

prevalent practi ce before the 

1980s, when Smithsonian-wide 

sexual harassment training 

began. 

Perhaps the best-known 

Murders have been rare—but 

they have occurred. The fi rst 

occurred in 1907 when an 

arti st from Philadelphia fatally 

shot an arti st in his offi ce at the 

Nati onal Museum. Although 

the assailant had a history of 

mental illness, the att ack was 

not random. Claiming that he 

had been molested previously 

by the victi m, the killer showed 

no remorse and said that he 

had committ ed the crime to 

protect other young children 

the same fate. He was acquitted on the basis of insanity and 

committ ed to the Government 

Hospital for the Insane. 

In 1979, an Associates volunteer was beaten to death 

while walking to the Metro 

at 10:30 p.m. aft er a puppetmaking class in the AIB. In 

1993, a NASM food contractor employee was fatally shot 

in the kitchen following a 

personal dispute with a NASM 

off ender in the fi rst half of the 

20th century was a NMNH 

Curator of Mollusks. The 

curator, who studied marine 

organisms that burrowed in 

the sand along the shore, also 

liked to feel women’s derrieres. When he did so to a 

visiti ng college student, she 

climbed out a window and 

stood screaming on the ledge. 

The curator was admonished 

and, because of his interest 

in both studying bott omdwelling mollusks and touching 

women’s bott oms, nicknamed 

“the Bott om Sampler.” 

Insanity Plea for Slayer, 

Washington Post, March 28, 1907

The “Bott om Sampler” at a 1927 

Mollusks Exhibit for the Board of 

Regents, SI Archives

Other sexual harassment 

crimes have included a faciliti es worker’s installati on of 

a camera in the women’s 

restroom at a Smithsonian 

Environmental Research Center 

facility. 
6

security offi cer, who was 

charged with second-degree 

murder while armed. 

The recent death at the 

Hirshhorn Museum and 

Sculpture Garden is not without 

precedent. A security offi cer 

shot and killed himself at the 

Renwick Gallery in 1978. He 

was turning in his revolver and 

ammuniti on at the end of his 

shift , however, and so it wasn’t 

clear whether the shooti ng was 

intenti onal or accidental. 

There also have been two 

deaths due to big cats at the 

Zoo. In 1958, a young girl 

was decapitated by a lion 

while visiti ng the zoo with her 

grandfather. Zoo director Ted 

Reed refused to euthanize the 

lion and turned public outcry 

into the creati on of Friends 

of the Nati onal Zoo, which 

focused on securing renovati on 

funding. And in March of 1995, 

a woman with a history of 

mental illness was killed when 

she entered the lion enclosure 

at night.

The Smithsonian has experienced many of the crimes found 

in normal urban life. Personal 

disputes, theft of property and 

money, and even murders are 

not unusual events in human 

aff airs. However, some, like 

the theft of the Gabon vipers, 

are unique to the Smithsonian. 

Crimes have been perpetrated 

by the full range of the 

Smithsonian community—

administrators, curators, 

researchers, security offi cers, 

volunteers, and visitors. 

The Smithsonian Offi ce of 

Protecti ve Services has grown 

from a single watchman to a 

large and professionally trained 

organizati on. Background 

checks are now conducted on 

all staff , resident researchers, 

and volunteers. Programs are 

in place to assist individuals 

with personal problems and all 

staff are trained in emergency 

procedures. 

The crime rate is low at the 

Smithsonian, so it seems 

shocking when it does occur. 

History, however, tells us that, 

because the Smithsonian is an 

urban organizati on of human 

beings, crime has been part 

of the Insti tuti on since its 

founding.

Pamela M. Henson

Insti tuti onal History Division

Smithsonian Insti tuti on Archives

Offi cer Darryl King at the Nati onal 

Air and Space Museum