A&A Technical & Historical Society

You know... Having read back through the threads and posts here & else where, its become plainfully (even painfully) obvious that each of us has missing pieces to the puzzle.

Though we all seem to be spread across the North East US, it seems to me that some arrangement might be made to catalog our belongings and setup some sort of 'trading post' if you will.

I'm not all that posessive about the stuff I have. If I made copies of my stuff, I'd be willing to sell alot of it off. On the same token, I'd be willing to scan my stuff and trade scans with others...

While there is the little bit of adrenaline rush when winning somehting historic on eBay, (Pat, remember our battle for the BA&A minutes?) I'm more into the collection for gaining the knowledge.

I'm not proud, I have no need to have a hundred year old document in my hands when I can have a computer scan of the data contained.

Perhaps if we each went through our collections and indexed everythign we have, we might be able to help others collect items they didn't know existed, or items that answer a specific question.

If/when enough data is gathered, I could even host an archives on the A&A site.

What say y'all?

I am not against that idea. I don't have much, but anything that I do have is available for the benefit of the A&A itself, or for devoted fans.

A public archives where folks could copy pictures, info and documents might help promote the A&A and modelers interest in it. To me the A&A and predicessors are a great railroad to model but precious little info is available to the general public.

Hey Jason, how's that Archives Idea coming? Still up for that? I'd like to donate. Please tell me how I can.

Due to current issues, I am unable to function as a leader in this type of project, but am willing to support it any way shape or form.

My duties as a Student Locomotive Engineer must take presidence over other pursuites due to the simple and plain fact that its my paycheck on the line.

Once I am promoted as a Locomotive Engineer on August 1st, I'll see what I can do... but until then, I have to decline to take on any other tasks.

Just a teaser here, but thought I'd share the last 45minutes work with you.


http://archives.anarr.com/

Looks good so far. I don't have much either, but what I have can be the railroads.

You know, the East Broad Top has a friends of the EBT and a web site. I know the Friends of the EBT does a lot to help the EBT in a variety of ways. They have a web site which is pretty good and includes some archival info. Maybe what we need is not only an archives but a Friends of the A&A????? I don't know how interested the A&A managment would be but it would certainly help promote the A&A. Such a group might also educate A&As management on the importance of of maintaining what little if left of the A&A's infrastructure. Both an archives and FotA&A might be a major boost to the A&A. Both seem to go hand in hand in my estimation.

There already exists a "Friends of the A&A" organization. I will let Pat Connors speak more about this, as he knows quite a bit about it.

Friends of A&A??? Must be pretty exclusive club! No website, never saw any info on it at the A&A depot. Do tell me about the Friends of the A&A.

Collections are best maintained by an organization already set up to make stuff available to the public... how about contacting the library in Arcade and see if they have a "local history room?" If people want to donate to a specific collection, then the library would be able to have it accessible for anyone who wants to do research. The library would then catalog evertything and keep track of it all.

-otto-

Otto,

Your suggestion about using the library as an archives is a good one but I have seen amazing stuff in library sales. Some also limit access and copying. It would be a good location and libraries are equiped to handle such collections.

Jack

If arrangements are made with the library, such an archive would certainly not end up in a library discard sale! Likewise, depending on the location of the archive, making copies of certain things shouldn't be a problem. Of course, some libraries put restrictions on very fragile books, etc. These would be things that would have to be worked out in writing with the accepting library.

Since the A&A is very much a community organization, I suggest you approach some of the area libraries, where the general public would have ready access. You could also consider one of the nearby college or univerity libraries, however, you may find that actually impedes access.

If donations would be made to an A&A Historical File, I'm sure the library would also accept any help in describing and cataloging the donations so that they can be found and used by those seeking to do research.

-otto-

Arcade does have a Historical Society. They are open on Wednesdays I think.