Widener to Regain French Journals Purloined in 1927

A Radcliffe freshman will return a dozen issues of a century-old Parisian newspaper to Widener Library today, almost 50 years after they were stolen from the library's periodical room.

The issues of the "Journal des Debats" turned up in an antique dresser purchased in Boston recently by an employee at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital.

The employee, Julie Smith, noticed the Harvard College Library stamps on the papers and handed them over to Lizellen La Follette '79, who also works at the hospital.

Probably Stolen in 1927

Jean-Philippe Wheeler, head of the Harvard Library gifts and exchange office, said yesterday the "semi-official government gazeteer-type" newspaper was probably stolen from the periodical room around 1927, shortly after the library received them.

Emphasizing that the journals are still the property of the library, Wheeler said they are "probably fairly important" and will be put on microfilm if they are not already.

La Follette said yesterday the papers were discovered in the bottom drawer of a dresser purchased in a "shoddy Boston antique store." The antique dealer, realizing after the sale that the papers were in the dresser, tried to sell them to Smith for $120 or retain them.