Do you really want to know?
While working on research I sometime find out more than I think readers want or need to know about the people I write about. I learned about the last minutes of Tom Shelhamer in a phone conversation. I have a two page single spaced letter from Alvin Lindens brother-law telling about the last hours of Linden’s life and how he found him on the shop floor. One gunmaker had a string of wives and a many children. More than one had a ongoing battle with the bottle.
For the most part I leave this kind of information out but after a few folks heard about the Linden info they all wanted copies. If a gunmaker dies early in life I try to include the reason. Where does historical information stop and bad taste begin? It’s become obvious to me that some people what to know more than I have been comfortable in providing. I made a copy of an A.O. Niedner taped interview available to the ASSRA, he had some strong feeling about another famous gunsmith a held back nothing, If it ever is transcribed I would be interest to see if it gets edited.
My outlook has been don’t write anything about someone I would not want written about myself. What say you?
