HYSTERICAL SOCIETIES AND WHY MY BIBLIOPHILE FRIEND HATED THEM
HE WAS NO LESS AN HISTORIAN - JUST BECAUSE HE DIDN'T LIKE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES
I'VE TOLD THIS STORY ABOUT DAVID BROWN AND HIS RELATIONSHIP TO HISTORICAL SOCIETIES, MANY TIMES IN THE PAST, AND ONCE AGAIN, I WON'T REPEAT THE ENTIRETY OF WHAT I WROTE ABOUT, JUST OVER A YEAR AGO. YOU CAN ARCHIVE BACK TO JANUARY OF LAST YEAR, IF YOU DIDN'T CATCH THE ORIGINAL. BUT AS THIS IS BIOGRAPHICAL, AND LOOSELY INSTRUCTIONAL, FOR SOME UP AND COMING ANTIQUE HUNTERS, IT'S NECESSARY ME THINKS, TO AT LEAST SUMMARIZE. IT WAS ONE OF DAVE BROWN'S FAVORITE STORIES, AND HE CHANGED IT TO SUIT THE AUDIENCE AND THE CIRCUMSTANCE THAT WARRANTED ITS RE-TELLING. NOW FOR THOSE FOLKS JUST TUNING IN, YOU CAN ARCHIVE BACK A FEW BLOGS, THIS PAST WEEK, TO READ MY INTRODUCTION AND FOLLOW-UP COLUMNS, ABOUT MY RELATIONSHIP TO THE GOOD MR. BROWN; NOTED OUTDOOR EDUCATOR, HISTORIAN AND BIBLIOPHILE……A WELL KNOWN BOOK AND PAPER COLLECTOR, ESPECIALLY RECONGIZED, WHEN IT CAME TO NATURAL HISTORIES AND CANADIANA. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET THE OOMPH FROM THIS BLOG, WITHOUT THE LEAD-UP MATERIAL. SO HERE GOES.
AS DAVE BROWN WAS MY TUTOR IN THE OLD BOOK GAME, WE TALKED A LOT ABOUT THE PRECEDENTS ATTAINED THUS FAR, IN OUR RESPECTIVE COLLECTING ADVENTURES. WE SHARED A LOT IN COMMON. HE GREW UP IN HAMILTON, ONTARIO, AND VISITED BURLINGTON FREQUENTLY. I SPENT MY EARLY YEARS IN BURLINGTON, AND VISITED HAMILTON OFTEN. I STARTED COLLECTING AS A PUBLIC SCHOOL KID, AND SO DID HE. I BECAME AN ANTIQUE DEALER IN MY EARLY 20'S, AND DAVE ALREADY HAD SEVERAL THOUSAND BOOKS, AND A NATURAL HISTORY COLLECTION BY THE SAME AGE. I HAD A SECONDARY CAREER AS A NEWSPAPER EDITOR, WRITER, AND FREELANCE HISTORIAN, DAVE HAD A WELL KNOWN OUTDOOR EDUCATION CENTRE IN HAMILTON, WHERE HE TAUGHT HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF LOCAL KIDS, OVER HIS MANY YEARS ON STAFF…..TAKING THEM FOR ABOUT A MILLION MILES OF NATURE HIKES, IN THE WOODLAND AREA OF THE FAMED BOTANICAL GARDENS.
I WAS A FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF AN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. DAVE LOATHED HISTORICAL SOCIETIES, GENERALLY. BY THE TIME DAVE AND I GOT TOGETHER, AS BOOK COLLECTORS (ME BEING A COLLECTOR AND DEALER), I HAD LEFT THE BRACEBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND SEVERED MY RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MUSEUM I HELPED LAUNCH, AS A DIRECTOR AND EVENTUAL SITE MANAGER. I RATHER ENJOYED THE REDUCTION OF THE HERITAGE TITHE, BECAUSE THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUSINESS AND THE MUSEUM RESPONSIBILITIES, WERE LIKE CARRYING AROUND AN ANCHOR. I'D HAVE TO LEAVE WORK AT THE HERALD-GAZETTE, EVEN ON A PRESS DAY, WHEN THERE WAS A PROBLEM AT THE MUSEUM WITH STAFF. I'D HAVE TO DRIVE FROM OUR RURAL HOME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, TO JOIN A CONSTABLE OF THE ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE, ON A FULL TOUR OF THE OLD HOUSE, KNOWN AS WOODCHESTER VILLA, BECAUSE THE BURGLAR ALARM HAD GONE OFF. SQUIRRELS FOUND THE COATING ON THE WIRING, TO THE SENSORS, TASTED LIKE LICORICE……SO TO STOP THE FALSE ALARMS THE WIRING HAD TO BE CHANGED, BECAUSE WE COULDN'T KEEP THE SQUIRRELS FROM GETTING INTO THE ATTIC. THEY ATE THROUGH EVERY BARRIER WE CREATED. WE DIDN'T HAVE THE MONEY TO FIGHT THE LITTLE BUGGERS. SERIOUSLY. NO MONEY. THAT'S HOW THE MUSEUM OPERATED. NINETY PERCENT ON VOLUNTEER LABOUR.
MY PROBLEM WITH THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND THE MUSEUM BOARD, (I WAS ALSO A MEMBER OF THE MUSKOKA LAKES MUSEUM, IN PORT CARLING), CAME DOWN TO MONEY AND THE LACK OF IT! VOLUNTEERS HAD TO PUT IN WAY TOO MUCH TIME, BECAUSE OF THE FINANCIAL SHORTFALLS, WHICH AT WOODCHESTER WERE UNENDING. THERE WAS NO LIGHT, NOT EVEN A TWINKLE, AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL FOR WOODCHESTER, OR THE BRACEBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND IT EVENTUALLY FOLDED. THE MUSEUM WAS CLOSED SOME YEARS BACK BECAUSE OF STRUCTURAL ISSUES. I PREDICTED IT WOULD HAPPEN AND IT DID. THE MUSKOKA LAKES MUSEUM HAS ENJOYED MUCH GREATER SUCCESS, AFTER A ROUGH PATCH TO KEEP IT OPEN, OF WHICH I WAS A SUCCESSFUL PLAYER……FIGHTING TOWN HALL ON THIS ONE. AFTER THE BATTLE WAS WON, AND THE MUSEUM WAS GUARANTEED ITS FUTURE, I DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO PULL BACK AND WORK ON MY OWN BUSINESS, WHICH HAD ALWAYS BEEN SECOND TO MY INVOLVEMENT IN HERITAGE MATTERS; FIRST WITH WOODCHESTER, THEN THE MUSKOKA LAKES MUSEUM. I ADORED BOTH OPERATIONS, BUT THE WEIGHT OF RESPONSIBILITY WAS HUGE, AND THE LIABILITY FACTOR WAS BECOMING A FAR MORE SERIOUS ISSUE, ESPECIALLY MANAGING THE SITE OUT OF ANY SERIOUS DEFICIT SITUATION……THAT DIRECTORS COULD HAVE BEEN HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR, IF IT WAS DEEMED WE HAD MISMANAGED FUNDS. I DIDN'T LIKE THE DEGREE OF RISK.
DAVE BROWN PROBABLY HAD MANY YEARS OF AMICABLE RELATIONS WITH MUSEUM AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY DIRECTORS. THERE WAS A FALLING OUT, AND I NEVER FOUND OUT WHAT IT WAS ABOUT, PRECISELY, BUT I KNOW HOW IT ENDED. DAVE MADE UP HIS MIND, THAT HE WOULD NEVER SURRENDER ANY GROUND TO WHAT HE CALLED "THOSE PEOPLE FROM THE HYSTERICAL SOCIETY." IN MY OWN YEARS AS A DIRECTOR, I HAD EXPERIENCED NUMEROUS OCCASIONS, ESPECIALLY ON THE BRACEBRIDGE BOARD, WHEN MEETINGS GOT SO NASTY, IT ALMOST CAME TO FISTICUFFS OUT ON THE MUSEUM LAWNS. AS PRESIDENT I HAD A LOT ON MY PLATE, AND THERE WERE A FEW DIRECTORS WHO PURPOSELY TOSSED OUT OBSTACLES, AND CREATED MORE WORK FOR VOLUNTEERS…….AT TIMES WHEN WE COULDN'T AFFORD TO STAFF THE PLACE. SO BY THE END OF MY TENURE, AND SOME MANAGEMENT CONFLICTS WITH THE TOWN ITSELF, THAT HAD OVERALL ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PROPERTY, I COULDN'T LEAVE MY JOB FAST ENOUGH. MY LIFE AND WORK ACTUALLY IMPROVED, DUMPING THE BURDEN OF RUNNING A MUSEUM THAT NEVER ONCE HAD ENOUGH MONEY. I WAS TIRED OF BEGGING FOR MONEY JUST TO MAKE THE TOWN LOOK GOOD FOR HAVING A COMMUNITY MUSEUM. THEY MILKED IT BIG TIME, UNTIL IT CAME DOWN TO THE BUDGET CRUNCH EACH YEAR. THEY LIKED THE IDEA OF HAVING A MUSEUM, JUST NOT ONE THEY HAD TO PAY FOR. MY YEARS WITH THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY WERE ADVERSE, FRUSTRATING, AGGRAVATING, AND LARGELY UNREWARDING. IF I HAD TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN, NO WAY.
SO WHAT WAS THE FUSS ABOUT?
The common thread here, is that as collectors of some accomplishment, Dave Brown, in Hamilton, and Suzanne and I, here in Muskoka, had considerable civic pride. We liked the idea of being involved with heritage projects. For many years we served long hours, on difficult projects, and were treated as rank and file volunteers. We certainly didn't get special consideration, and for the most part, we held little sway within the groups. This will read badly, and appear as if vanity was the only reason we got involved in the first place. The fact is, we had heritage capabilities, as collectors and part-time historians, that were particularly useful to the community projects, where we got involved. None of us were interested as much in the social side of the programs, but mostly it was the historical relevances that turned our respective cranks. But there was a social agenda attached, and seeing as we didn't have any political will, or desire to re-adjust issues of seniority, and reform their ideas on governance and protocol, the three of us just began drifting away from the central authority…….making us rogues within. We actually started to get shunned, and bypassed altogether, and it never really got better. It's still an ongoing issue, the difference being, I don't care. I'm overloaded with heritage projects anyway, and these ones, are done my way. (Suzanne is my editor)
We had tried our best to work with members of the Historical Society responsible for the museum's heritage collection. I remember donating a very rare plaster plaque of the original Muskoka 122nd Battalion pin, from World War I, (done as a wall hanging for veteran soldiers) that I paid dearly for, at a Gravenhurst auction, to the Muskoka Lakes Museum, for their local military display. All I asked was for a tax receipt, in the amount that I had paid for it, at this local auction. That was more than a decade ago, and I haven't received it yet. Dave probably would have experienced the same kind of problem…..donating items to an historical group or museum in his neck of the woods, and then on checking later, finding the item either had never been registered, or was lost before it could be registered into the collection. There are all sorts of stories like this, and while I don't know the specifics in his case, it was enough to turn him off forever, from donating to museums. He did donate a large quantity of books to McMaster University, via his will, but just not to museums. One of the issues that bothered him, had to do with they way historical society members intruded upon him at auctions and estate sales……believing that they could overpower free-enterprise, because they were affiliated with a museum. Dave made it a point, of standing in their way, every chance he got, and it was most definitely a mean spirited pursuit on his part. He didn't see it this way, when we talked about it, but that was the sum total anyway. I may not have liked the way some historical society members acted, even up here, but I never set out to trip them up, for sport. I could have, but just never felt myself angry enough to do so. I knew how to out-muster them, however, and get what I wanted, and needed; over and above their attempts to pull the "we're from the museum" trump card, to cut in line. If I had one definable moment, when I realized my difference of opinion with those who align themselves with pre-planned historical purpose, it came when, locally, I attended an auction where there was a huge quantity of historic paperwork pertaining to the Muskoka region. I have by the way, done appraisals for area museums, to evaluate donations of Muskoka collectibles. I know the market value of these heirloom regional pieces. I sell a significant volume each year, in private enterprise.
It was a huge estate sale, with a nice Muskoka flavor to it……which is right up my alley. Under one long length of table, which had a cloth covering that blocked what was below (but I've learned to be inquisitive), I found boxes and boxes of historical documents relevant to the district. Gads, on the open market, I was looking at about five thousand dollars worth of ephemera. There were receipts tacked inside from the major industries and boat builders in Muskoka, and just those bits of paper alone, today, would be worth in the neighborhood of a hundred bucks each. The books were full of them, and other important written history, that belonged here…..in a safe climate controlled environs. While Suzanne and I were buried in these boxes, other collectors at the sale were reaching over top to grab up some of the documents. I was freaking out, because I didn't have enough money to beat out the Southern Ontario dealers who were milling around….two of them, were drooling while looking over our shoulders. I didn't like that, but in my business it happens all the time. It's like a rugby scrum but meaner. So we tried to crowd them out, and it wasn't working. By accident, we happened to find an off-duty government official, who just happened to be at the sale, who was identified to us by another antique dealer friend, and she informed us that the documents actually belonged to the community governance, and could not be legally sold by the auctioneer. Yea, good luck with that, and more people spotted the frenzy of activity around the boxes, and decided to see what the fuss was about.
We sent a message to any other local historian available, who had a few bucks to spare (in case we had to pool money to buy them from the estate), to get over to the auction without delay, so we could either buy the job-lot of documents (if the auctioneer went ahead, despite the advice we had received), or block their sale long enough in the day, to involve the town itself in the negotiation. Suzanne and I neglected one of the best sales of the season, as antique dealers, to try and protect these documents from winding up for sale somewhere else in the province. The book and old paper dealers at the sale, at this time, had lots of money to invest in this kind of written documentation, and even with three or four concerned citizens, we probably couldn't have outbid them. I decided to go it alone, and approach the auctioneer, to beg at the very least, a delay in selling off these boxes of documents. Suzanne and I explained the situation, and we called upon the lady, from an unnamed provincial ministry, to back up our claims…..that these municipal documents containing sensitive information, shouldn't be sold……and that it might well have been illegal to do so. We were winging it, let me tell you. God bless the man. He agreed to have the subject boxes removed immediately from the sale agenda, to be considered later with the estate executor. We toted the boxes to the verandah where the clerk's desk was situated, that day, and let me tell you folks…..as we walked with these overflowing boxes, we were jeered by the dealers who had been interested in bidding on them. In fact, one guy I used to call "Wally the Weasel," followed me right into the porch area, to complain to the auctioneer. Fortunately the veteran auctioneer knew how to handle this kind of situation, and calmly explained that the matter was under consideration, as to whether or not it could be legally auctioned. The delay gave us time, and our new civil servant friend an opportunity, to make a few phone calls on our behalf, to see if we could block the sale officially. Well, this is exactly what happened. This was a major effort of support, for the historian collective of our region.
They came (associated historians), loaded up the boxes, took them off for sorting and any conservation required, and we went on to buy some articles from the last half of the auction sale. So everything worked out well? It did! And we were happy to help. But here's what has always bugged my ass. I could have purchased those documents myself. Knowing what was in those boxes, I can tell you, I would have sold shares to get enough money to swing the deal. But we knew enough, that what was inside was more important to the district heritage community, than to be pissed away in retail sales, pleasing collectors, but losing the historical continuity;…..as everything in the boxes was related…..and one page tied to the other, in all the books in the collection. I suppose we were naive to think that one of the folks of the local historical group might thank us, for having done so much personally, to guard and spare the items…..including the successful negotiation with the auctioneer. What did I want from them? Other than to feel good inside, that Suzanne and I had helped save local heritage? We would have been happy to received a simple and heartfelt thank you. Nuff said. The fact that we were ignored, as if we had done nothing at all of merit, left a bad feeling with us that has never diminished. Would I do something like this again? Save this material for the town? For me, the answer is yes. But I just wouldn't let them wander off, without an acknowledgement of why they got the treasure in the first place. It was from this point, that Dave Brown and I merged in attitude, I'm sorry to say.
THE AUCTION SWITCH AND SWAY
Dave had this favorite story, he told and re-told, about one of the legendary battles he had with the "hysterical society" (historical society), in his part of the province. He never officially named the society or the museum they represented. It was at an auction where there were thousands of books up for sale, in a long row of cardboard boxes. As it was a known estate of a local collector, there were quite a few books that the regional heritage group wanted for their museum archives. Dave had played silly-ass games with these people at other auctions in the area, when it came to regionally significant pieces. If they wanted to challenge for specific pieces, and they also happened to be ones he wanted, a fight would ensue. That was a guarantee. He won more than he lost, lets say that! So at this sale, the heritage group volunteers, got the idea of stacking the boxes, which is a common practice at auctions, where there is a large volume of books. This means, that volunteers were taking the books they were interested in, and placing them in one big box at the front of the line. The idea was, that when the auctioneer sold them "on choice," they would win the bid, and take only one box for that price. And leave the rest. Depleted of anything good, as Dave saw it! So he would go back, and put all the books back in the boxes, where they had been, because he had studied them carefully from the preview of the sale. The volunteers, seeing this, would fly back into action, and as soon as Dave was back in the thick of the auction, the first box would be stacked once more. He told me, that he played with them four or five times, before he made the decision to end the nonsense. This was classic Dave Brown. But truthfully, I would have done the same thing. Maybe you would have to!
Dave knew most of the auctioneers in the region he called his hunting and gathering ground. They knew him as a regular customer who took lots and lots of books off their hands. This was to his credit. They didn't want to haul leftovers to the landfill site. He cleaned up every last book, when he did make a major purchase. So Dave was not out of line, going up to his auctioneer friend, who had stopped the sale, in order to have a short coffee break,…..asking if he could deal with the books immediately when the sale resumed, as he had a prior commitment and would have to leave the auction. The auctioneer would have taken this seriously, because they needed Dave to boost the price of the books being offered. Without him the sale price would have been a lot less, and most likely, many of the boxes would have remained unsold. The historical society only wanted one box. What about the other twenty-five? So for Dave, the auctioneer had no problem adjusting the sale order. First item on the list for the resumption of the auction……a "lot" of books.
The ever-observant Mr. Brown, had also been aware, that the historical society volunteers had also retreated for a wee coffee break, from all the book sorting they'd been doing. They knew the auction was resuming, but had little idea the order of the sale had been changed. They might have expected it would have been at least another half hour before they came for sale. So they were wrong. By time they ambled back to the sale-front, Dave had already pulled his truck close to the piles of books, and was seen loading them into the back. "They insisted I stop doing this," he told me. "They went to the auctioneer, and complained that I was basically stealing the books." Well, in their absence, he had bought the whole lot. Not on choice, but the whole shooting match. Especially the stacked first box. He had outsmarted the hysterical society, and that's pretty much the way he left them on the lawn, that day, stomping up and down that they had been deceived. I wouldn't call it being deceived. Outsmarted, yes indeed.
When Dave began sorting out the books at home, there was a significant one missing. He would later find it in a collection belonging to the same museum. Now this is just a story, and while he never said they had stolen the book from him……I knew what he was getting at! He'd hustled them, and they hustled him back. Nothing else was ever said. But he never, ever asked for a historical society membership card.
In tomorrow's blog, I will give a more in-depth overview, of the relationship between collectors, dealers and historical societies……and how free enterprise can and does function with public institutions. When of course, everyone plays fair.
Thanks so much folks, for dropping by for a little visit. There's lots more hair raising stuff to come. Trust me on this. The antique profession, even on a regional scale, can get pretty wild and wooly on occasion. And it can get real funny out there as well. See you again soon. In the meantime, drive carefully. More freezing rain on the way. What a whacky winter it's turned out to be. Back to the Canadian winter I knew as a kid.
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