Stolen Artifacts Returned to Blair County Historical Society

Dozens of artifacts stolen during the 1970s have been recovered and returned to the owning institutions. This includes the Blair County Historical Society. This was done through a repatriation ceremony on March 13.

In December 2021, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania indicted Michael Corbett of Newark, Del., for possession of firearms and other items stolen from museums in the 1970s.

In August 2022, Corbett pleaded guilty to the possession of stolen items transported interstate, and in accordance with his plea agreement, turned over additional stolen firearms to the government.

According to Director of Communications at the Museum of the American Revolution Alex McKechnie, "We held a ceremony at the museum where the FBI repatriated or returned 50 artifacts that had been stolen, some of them more than 50 years ago. They returned these to 17 museums and historical societies."

Executive Director of The Baker Mansion Kate Rimbeck said this is very exciting for the Blair County Historical Society.

According to Rimbeck, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office in Upper Merion Township got a tip back in 2014 or 2015 and began investigating.

"They identified several of the weapons as ours," Rimbeck said.

Rimbeck said that after the investigation, authorities came to Baker Mansion in 2016 and met with an archivist, John Crider and Roger Shingler.

"They all assisted in getting inventory together and identified some of the weapons as ours," Rimbeck said.

Rimbeck said they were invited to the repatriation ceremony, where they received several of their weapons. They were Civil War weapons that not only belonged to the Blair County Historical Society, but to the community itself.

"When you're taking something from the historical society, you're not only taking from us, but you're taking from the community as well as the family who donated it. So, to have those back is absolutely phenomenal," Rimbeck said.

The individual who took the items was a collector himself, according to Rimbeck. They went from Mississippi to Massachusetts, hitting all kinds of museums and historical sites taking various items not just weapons.

Blair County Historical Society Board Chairman James Lowe said, "As an organization whose primary mission is to preserve Blair County history we are both excited and grateful for the return of these weapons to our artifact collection. We appreciate the effort of all who was involved with this recovery."

Rimbeck added that the society is discussing how to best display these items because they are of great interest. She continued by saying, "Since 1973, we have upgraded our security system to the state of art to include cameras as well as alarm systems. We are also keeping these artifacts at off-site location in a secure facility."

Rimbeck personally thanks her predecessors, who assisted the FBI and other officials.

"Without them and their research to find items from 1973, we wouldn't be here to accept these items," Rimbeck said.