Thanks, George. Yup, I'm in pretty good company with Ed and Dean. I notice that fellow didn't accuse Ed and me of being brown nosers at PGCA. Wonder why?
Let me add another dimension to this record thing. Back when I joined the PGCA as #106 in summer of 1994, within a few days of sending my $25 check to the VA post office box I received a welcoming call from Ron Kirby. That was then, this is now and the typical turn-around time to welcome new members is 90 to 120 days...but I digress.
What I meant to say was that Ron told me how the PGCA was founded in Charlottesville VA, and I mentioned that my kids lived in Manassas, and he told me to check in next time I was in Virginia, which I did, and there was a Richmond gun show on the weekend, so we arranged to meet. What impressed me about Ron was his interest in becoming a museum curator when he retired from teaching; his core interest was Civil War and he talked
ad nauseum about archival records and their protection (this at a gun show among Parker collectors). There was no thought at the time (fall 1994) that the
Parker Story authors would donate their photocopies of the Stock Books to the PGCA or that Research Letters could become a reality or that it would be possible to access other records at Remington. This all took time, and Ron was the perfect person to make it happen: he was an archivist in search of an archive and it fell into his lap.
Ron secured the records, organized them, computerized the data and cross-referenced the serial-numbers in the Stock Books to the random and oft-repetitive out-of-sequence S/Ns in the Order Books, and he wrote at least 2,500 Research Letters at $25 for members, $40 non-members on his own time, refusing compensation. I suggested to the BODs at the time that Ron should be paid, so that all the research wasn't just his personal work product, but the BODs took the path of least resistance, which came back to haunt when Ron was "retired" and the PGCA was reorganized in 2003. Ron would not turn over his own research, and why should he?
I played a part in the negotiating the new PGCA in summer 2003, having the continuity and the ear of the respective parties. The seminal moment was when Oscar Gaddy said, "Ron has to go." I discussed with Oscar and others, Ron's contribution to the then $100,000 cash hoard, of which $65,000 represented research letters written by Ron on his own time and 100% donated to the treasury. I suggested to some of the players that Ron be given a $25,000 "honorarium" and he be encouraged to stay aboard and continue to do the Research Letters on a fee basis. It didn't happen. There was too much animosity and hard feelings; the new BOD bit the bullet and started computerizing the photocopies from scratch. It was time consuming and expensive; a heroic effort that pays dividends to anyone who invests in a Research letter today.
Bill and I are not part of the inner group, but we have been involved with the PGCA for so long that it is hard to "grin and bear it" when the BOD goes off in the wrong direction or can't seem to run the PGCA like a business. The idea that there is an inner-group "conspiracy" to deny access to the Parker records flys in the face of the many thousands of satisfied customers. I don't know if Mark Conrad is given a token payment for Research Letters produced. He should, if past is prologue. But these people don't listen to me.
C'est la vie! Next stop Florida; I'm outta this deep-freeze for a few months. EDM
