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

Would the ACGG have the means or interest for this or is it simply a trade organization?

I think Brent and JD have made excellent points. The institution must have continuity, and to some degree, it must be self supporting. Michael has an extensive library, data base, photos & many other items, including files on rifles of interest. His work should be preserved (and used, in a positive manner). I think one way to accomplish this is through an endowed curatorship. The mechanism(s) for endowment are reasonably straightforward.

Michael is not the only person deserving of having his work preserved. I have seen private firearms libraries donated to our local "Friends of the Library". When these ladies get gun books, they burn them. I would like to see an institution enabled to receive private libraries or collections through donation or through purchase at fair prices. The institution should be able to keep any needed items and dispose of duplicates, etc. in some reasonable manner.

I would not imagine the ACGG to be a good candidate for research papers. The Guild "historian" is a volunteer position with no job description other than he's willin'.
I have no valid suggestions...

I have a history with ACGG, back before I started writing for PS I offered to write for them about the early custom makers, for free. They had no interest and I was told they had a historian (not the one now)and he would do any historical writing. I get along fine with the members and count many as friends. I would only think about giving them my papers while peeing on an electric fence. That answer the question ;-).

Gee, that's kinda how I feel about the ASSRA

In any event, you need a professional operation if you really want your stuff to last out there. Ever check into the UA-Fairbanks museum, just for the heck of it?

Brent

All organizations that grow to a certain size become political and the ASSRA & AGCC are no different, I like the members but have a hard time with the politics. If you have been with the ASSRA long enough you will remember that I wrote several articles for them. I have always admired the work of Rudi Prusok and will do what I can to help preserve his work. I remember around the early 1970's when I started getting serious about research I wrote several letters to the NRA, they either did not have the information or were too busy to respond. It's funny because the person who was running the NRA downtown museum at the time did not have a complete set of American Rifleman magazines and would call me and ask questions. Once I found Rudi he went out of his way to help and supply any answers he could. I also depended heavily on fellow researcher Jim Foral to share information with. He is lurker here but seldom post.

I often wondered what happened to the papers of folks such as Braverman(sp?) Sellers and others who did research. Townsend Whelen's grandson is working on a bibliography of TW's writings, a major project.

Just to be clear, I have never heard a bad word about Rudi Prusok. And I have no reason to think he is other than a great guy. The ASSRA as an organization, on the other hand...

I wish there was an easy answer for you. Seems like there should.

Brent

There just aren't many well endowed institutions that are going to have an interest in custom gunsmiths, even peripherally. The ones that are interested are organizations like ASSRA and cannot be really considered a reliable, long term repository. I would even be worried about University collections suffering a politically correct purge of such information. I suspect that, for all its faults, the NRA comes the closest to fulfilling your requirments. In the meantime publish and share as much as you can. The more widely disseminted the knowledge the more likely it is to survive.

Jerry Liles

Jerry Liles

Jerry,
I think the continued steriotypic reaction to universities is really a shame. Few if any of these instances are warrented and ANY university has a real interest in American History which is what we are talking about.

FWIW, when I want to learn something about the phylogeny of muzzleloading gunmakers, I go to my University library, where I can find a goodly number of books on the wall. I have not researched archives simply because my interests are not that deep.

University museum collections (similar but different than libraries) are being databased now and can often be searched from around the planet. They are the institutions that will be around and will be available to people as far into the future as we can hope.

It is too bad there is such animosity towards higher education by the gun crowd. But that is another sad story for a different thread.

Brent

PS. Michael, most of your interests are in eastern gunsmiths if I read you right. Perhaps a Pennsylvania, New York or similar New England school would be willing to archive carefully organized notes on American gun making. I think some research into such schools will prove fruitful.

I agree that the best way to insure the preservation of Mike's knowledge is for him to publish everything that he has in a book or books. I'll take 2 of each that he publishes,maybe more. I have the habit of buying multiple copies of books that I find well researched in subjects that interest me.Most of the time they are not best sellers but time has proven that they become sought after in time.Witness the price of John Bivins book on North Carolina furniture and the original Colt and Winchester engraving books.