On Friday, in court filings reported by the Boulder Daily Camera and other outlets, federal officials said they had recovered and were seeking the forfeiture of Turing’s degree certificate, the medal and photos, reports and letters from his time at boarding school.
The items were stolen in 1984, the filing said, after a woman asked to see the Turing archive at Sherborne. A note was later found which said: “Please forgive me for taking these materials into my possession. They will be well taken care of while under the care of my hands and shall one day all be returned to this spot.”
In 2018 a woman named Julia Turing offered the items on loan to the University of Colorado Boulder. The court filing said the woman was not related to the British scientist but changed her surname from Schwinghamer in 1988.
In a letter cited in the filing and reported by the Planet Princeton website, a Sherborne employee wrote: “I am familiar with the eccentricities of Americans but I got the impression that she has a ‘crush’ on Turing.