ART

An art scholar accused of stealing historic documents from the government says he’s innocent and the charges against him result from “hysteria.” Charles Merrill Mount, 59, told the Washington Post that 200 historic documents, including letters of Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Henry James, found by federal authorities in his home and lock boxes “were always mine and had been in my possession for 25 years.” Federal authorities say the documents were stolen from the National Archives and the Library of Congress. Mount has been arrested twice in the last two weeks, in Boston and Washington, and was released Wednesday from jail in Washington.