doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Do you really want to know?

Michael, I for one really appreciate reading those anecdotes! I already knew about Neidner's escapade with the canteen and the stuck wheel, but the others made for very pleasant reading. At least it was pleasant after I passed the point where Shelhamer's records may end up being lost forever(!).

And that raises yet another question. Have you, Michael, made any provision for the disposition of your notes and records after your passing? I recall a similar dilemma discussed by the ASSRA about their own library a few years ago, and still not resolved or even revisited as far as I know. It would be a shame if the accumulated data assembled by you should become lost to future generations, and I was wondering if you had reached any conclusions you'd care to share with us?
Regards, Joe

A timely question I just got off the phone with Rudi Prusok with no easy answers for either of us. For those who don't know Rudi he is the keeper of the ASSRA library. A decade ago when the wife and I made out or last will I left all my records, pictures, databases and files to the Rifled Arms Historical Association which now seems to be dead. Ideally I would like to find a (young) man to take over for me and have all my files. Realizing that that may not be possible for many reasons I would like to find a institution that might be interested and I was thinking of some school like Trinidad State Junior College or other that has a gunsmith school. Rudi thinks this is a good Idea as well and would be open to something like this. My library (200 feet of book shelf) will go to auction, the ASSRA library is about the length of a football field.

A timely question I just got off the phone with Rudi Prusok with no easy answers for either of us. For those who don't know Rudi he is the keeper of the ASSRA library. A decade ago when the wife and I made out or last will I left all my records, pictures, databases and files to the Rifled Arms Historical Association which now seems to be dead. Ideally I would like to find a (young) person to take over for me and have all my files. Realizing that that may not be possible for many reasons I would like to find a institution that might be interested and I was thinking of some school like Trinidad State Junior College or other that has a gunsmith school. Rudi thinks this is a good Idea as well and would be open to something like this. My library (200 feet of book shelf) will go to auction, the ASSRA library is about the length of a football field.

Michael, The Cody Museum might be more accessible and better known to more people.

Just a thought,
Brent

The McCracken Research Library is a possibility. However I think you have to travel to Cody to get anything, at least that was how it was when I went there. Cody may be a bit closer than Alaska but not by much. I'm thinking about a teaching school because of all the younger folks who might take up research and writing if gunsmithing does not pay the bills ;-).

I went to the McCracken Research Library to look at the Kornbrath papers, this was years ago and they sat a cardboard box full of papers on my desk and said "Have-Fun".

Just between us Michael, in my experiences with TSJC I would imagine giving the college your papers a bit like burying them in an unmarked grave.

I have a similar quandry???? A friend recently asked, "What are you going to do with all your guns?"
My reply, "I'm not worried about the guns, it's my library and personal papers I think about!"

I sold one of my rarest books the other day (not most valuable, but hardest to come by) simply because I found a fellow who wanted it...

I also probably have something to say about revealing personal info of deceased custom gunmakers being the resident most-likely-next-in-line... but I've been waiting for everyone else to have their say.
Best,
Steve

The best thing would be for someone that does what I do to have my files, problem is all the ones that I would send my stuff to are all about my age or older. The real problem is the ASSRA who must have the most complete firearms library in the USA. I have worked with Rudi for decades and he will look up and copy anything he might have that you need. There is nothing like it anywhere and it would be a huge loss to all researchers. For anyone who might eventuality suggest it I'll say it now NRA=NO-RESEARCH-ALLOWED.

Michael:

Have you spoken to the J.M. Davis Museum in Claremont, OK? I haven't been there in 25 years, but they had an extensive and growing firearms collection and your papers might be a wonderful complement to that collection.

I know nothing more about them than the location and the experience of a very pleasant afternoon spent perusing their displays, but I suggest it as a possibility because of the subject matter of their collection.

Rem

Michael,
There are whole hosts of academic museums and libraries that may very well be interested in your work. I would not be the least surprised and they are very professionally curated of course. And there is the Smithsonian and other public museums. These are the sorts of places where they won't "disappear".

if you think Cody is almost as far away as Alaske, I think I should send you some maps. I do go to Trinidad annually but have never been to the school. I do not think any of the shooters that are there at that time do, unless they are gunsmiths, and strangely, few if any gunsmiths these days, seem to be interested in history.

Anyway, I'm no expert, and I can only guess what you have, but Cody seems to be the best to me. They do allow people in, and who doesn't want another good reason to go to Cody? It's a decent place where one can shoot too.

Brent

PS. One other possibility - Friendship and the NMLRA has some sort of curated archives and they do copy things and mail them to folks that ask nicely for very little or no cost. Seem to be good folks, not sure how reliable they will be in the future.

IMO there are two firm and absolute requirements for a repository for your and the ASSRA's records.

The first is continuity. Whichever institution has responsibility for the records must have a program for storing and retrieving them, with an established and publicly-available procedure for obtaining information. Unfortunately I agree with Steve, Trinidad is simply not the place IMO. The school is basically a simple local-area-serving junior college with no research and/or curatorial program so far as I know. What's needed is a reasonably-well-known institution with an established reputation if possible, but in any case one that's likely to both preserve and add to the collection in the future as well as making it available in an ongoing & dependable manner.

The second requirement IMO is a method for the institution to make money on each information request. Not necessarily an actual profit, but at least enough $ to offset the expenses of the service. Most all museums includiing Cody charge a fee for any research and copying services, but the members of the ASSRA seem reluctant to donate their records to anyone who would charge a meaningful fee. I'll bet it'll be very difficult to find an institution or individual who would or could guarantee inexpensive access without some additional method of funding. Yes, the records & books are valuable & interesting in and of themselves, but not so valuable or interesting that a museum would grant free services just in exchange for them, as some ASSRA members seem to expect.

As Yul Brynner (The King and I) used to say, "It is a puzzlement!"
Regards, Joe