January 18, 2017
The FBI on Wednesday restored a bit of Philadelphia history to its proper place.
Two rare early 19th century notebooks, taken from the Stephen Girard Collection at Girard College more than a decade ago, were returned to the institution by the FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office, Acting United States Attorney Louis D. Lappen announced.
The notebooks, from 1809 and 1811, are two of the four notebooks maintained by H.J. Roberjot, the clerk and assistant to Stephen Girard, to account for Girard's expenditures. Girard was at that time, and until his death in 1831 at the age of 81, the wealthiest man in the United States, with a net worth $7.5 million – or about 1/150th of the country's Gross National Product.
The FBI did not specify in a statement how the notebooks were removed from the collection, nor how they came to be returned.
The notebooks vividly described the daily life and charitable generosity of Girard, who founded Girard College, according to the school's current president, Clarence Armbrister. The school was the banker's best-known act of philanthropy.
Girard College opened its doors to educate students – primarily the children of coal miners – on a 43-acre campus in Philadelphia in 1848. Today, it is a five-day boarding school, grades 1 through 12, for students from families headed by a single parent or guardian and with limited financial resources. All students receive full scholarships for their entire stay at Girard College.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Art Crime Team and was handled by Assistant United States Attorney K.T. Newton.
