December 9, 2004
As a several decade and largely silent BRHS member, I have been patiently
watching the safety valves sputtering away a few pounds shy of popping off over
this Corbin Collections Questions debate. Now, it's come time to add some
comments of my own.
I'm particularly impressed with the very measured and moderate responses made
by my friend Charlie Vlk. I'm in total agreement with Charlie's views on this
subject. I only regret that Charlie is not in a position to play a much more
active role in managing the BRHS.
What really disappoints me with the entire matter is that Mr. Wagner has not
responded as of this moment to any of the charges made by Mr. Elliott. I
wonder why he has not stepped forward to specifically refute these serious
accusations involving the Corbin Collection?
I'm deeply indebted, as many hundreds of other loyal BRHS members are, to Mr.
Wagner's years of editing the Bulletin. Without him, we wouldn't have such a
successful and respected publication. Yet, his position of trust is to benefit
the Society and membership.
It has been my personal experience from being involved over the past 40 years
with several other railroad historical societies that sometimes a totally
dedicated volunteer can blur the line between what actually belongs to the
society and what is his own personal property.
Also, there is always a danger where you have a small organization that for
years is largely held together by an inner group. This inner group, through
nothing more than human nature, can come to believe that they totally control
the
organization and thus act accordingly.
I, of course, have no actual knowledge of Mr. Wagner's relationship and
business dealings with the late Mr. Corbin, and I make no accusations in this
unfortunate matter. But, since the BRHS admittedly has no formal program for
archiving its scattered collections, all this begs the question of what has
actually
happened to the years of accumulated donated or purchased collections now
scattered around in the basements of various volunteers.
Speaking from my own experience, some number of years ago I sold a large
collection of CB&Q paper to Mike Spoor who told me he wanted the material for
the
BRHS. This paper consisted of early Zephyr purchase records and diagram books
saved by my late father.
The fact that Mr. Spoor wanted the material for the BRHS made a positive
difference with me so I sold it all to him. It's his property now free and
clear
where ever it might be piled up. I was a happy seller and Mr. Spoor was a happy
buyer. But, will it ever be archived?
If nothing else comes out of this debate and the membership never hears a
rebuttal from Mr. Wagner, then at least we have identified a major problem in
that there obviously is no accurate record of what has been donated or
purchased
over the years for our BRHS.
And since there is no record, no one really knows if any of the historical
paper, images and other memorabilia has disappeared into private collections or
been lost to deterioration. It might be occasionally showing up on EBay for
all we know. To me, this is a big problem.
Charlie and some other members have commented on the pros and cons of
digitally scanning all the collections and then disposing of the original
copies to
raise funds for the Society. I think this idea has alot of merit and that it
should be further explored in detail.
Of course, the BRHS's boiler pressure is directly tied to how many volunteers
are shoveling coal into the firebox at any one given time. And, our relativ
ely small membership is scattered all over the US (I live on the Alabama Gulf
Coast). Yet, something must be done.
Charlie really hit the spike with his maul when he commented about not
throwing the baby out with the bath water. Every dedicated volunteer is a very
precious person and the BRHS remains a democracy where everyone interested in
the
CB&Q is welcome and valued.
For that reason and others already touched upon, let me personally call upon
Mr. Wagner for both his rebuttal and suggestions/comments covering how to
archive our collections so that there can never be any question as to who owns
want or how it was acquired.
I also think that this "free" internet discussion group is one of the best
things about our BRHS in that it allows members an open and free debate in real
time without having to wait months for your next Bulletin to show up. I would
stress to all members to use this group.
Best Regards,
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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