This is the fifth in a series of my notes from the Convention.
** Disclaimer Alert **
Please understand these are the things I thought were important (or were
able to jot down as the conversation progressed) and these are just MY
opinion. Additional comments are included in brackets [].
If you wish to excerpt from them, you may. Please give proper credit and I
request a copy of your publication which contains the information. Reply
via private e-mail and I'll send my snail mail address. Thanks!
** End of Disclaimer ** <g>
I need to make a couple of additions/corrections from earlier posts:
In report #3, the rallys which Earl Hutson earned the Arthur J. Gervais
Award and Outstanding National Touring Rally of the Year were: Virginia
Creeper National Course Rally and Trail of the Lonesome Pine National
Touring Rally, respectively. Thanks to Ralph Burr for providing me these
names.
In report #4, I misspelled Phil Clarke's name. My apologies. For those of
you who know me, it seems ironic that I would leave off an 'e', and I'm
forever reminding folks to add the 'e' before the 'y' in my name!
Anyway, on to the first of Peter Hylton's seminars about the SCCA Archives.
[I had to split this segment, I'm long-winded again <g>.] I've been to 9
national conventions now, and these were two of the most informative
sessions I've ever attended. Of course, it helps dramatically that I'm
interested in history, and especially the history of our club.
The first seminar was titled: "The SCCA Archives - A Hidden Resource".
I. Where We've Been
SCCA's first office was in a dry cleaners. As the club outgrew the dry
cleaners, it was moved to a farmhouse and barn in Westport, Connecticut. It
was at that time that Harry Handley was hired to be the Rally/Solo
Director. Harry was our 1st Archivist. At the time the SCCA office was
moved to Denver, other staff members began throwing away records. Harry
felt this information was important, so each evening he loaded his car with
items that were discarded into the dumpster. He even had to retrieve some
early records from the dump. Fortunately, Harry had the foresight to do
this for the club. Harry was a life-member.
Harry moved sometime later from Westport to his family home in West
Virginia. After Harry passed away in 1996, Fred Slick and Peter went out to
West Virginia to move the archives to Indianapolis for Peter to take over
as Archivist. What they found was SCCA Archives in every room of Harry's
home, with barely any aisleways due to the boxes of history stacked from
floor to ceiling. Harry was the epitome of a pack-rat. In addition to his
love for SCCA, Harry was also into Ham Radios and photography. Fred and
Peter collected 40 TONS of material from Harry's home and moved it to SEVEN
10' * 30' storage bays with 8' ceilings in Indy.
Harry was a remarkable individual albeit a bit eccentric and very
intelligent. With all of this material, not one index existed. All the
indexing and where to find stuff was stored in Harry's mind. Unfortunately,
when Harry left us, so did that knowledge.
II. Where We Are
Peter, Cindy, and Aeron Hylton have been working together on this project.
Peter admitted he does most of the digging, and Cindy does most of the
computer work, and Aeron helps out as best as a five-year-old can. SCCA
Inc. purchased a computer, scanner, and some other miscellaneous items for
the Archives.
The material has been sorted into 8 major categories. The collection
contains over 1000 books, 10,000 periodicals, about 2500 race programs,
over 50 years of membership information, and films, etc. Peter mentioned
there is a completed set of Car & Driver, and Road & Track, but he is
missing about 12 issues from Competiton Press/Autoweek to have a complete
set.
They are still working on the sorting, so far they've found over 100 boxes
of retired driver files and over 100 films and videos. The storage facility
has been reduced to FOUR 10'*30' storage bays. Future sorting will include
race results, rally/solo records, Regional newsletters [editors, are you
remembering to send issues to the archivist?], administrative records, and
posters.
III. Where We're Going
Some of the records have been moved to a climate controlled facility. A
future goal is to be able to put much of the information CD-ROM for easier
access and space reduction.
IV. What We Can Do For You
Re-establish membership: If you've been a member for quite a while, and
dropped out for just a year or a few years, Peter can research and
determine how many years you need to "buy-back" to retain your original
date joined. The "buy-back" will be at today's rate and will allow you to
use your original membership number.
Research track information: The example Peter gave was Virginia
International Raceway. There is a group interested in re-doing and bringing
VIR back on line. Peter was able to do some research in the Archives to
assist them with the track layout as it was in the early '60s when the
track was closed. [VIR expects to be racing in 2000. It will be a club
racing facility, no pro events planned, no CART-style concrete to be used a
safety barriers.]
Research region actvity info: Detroit Region recently celebrated their 50th
Anniversary and Des Moines Valley their 40th, and Peter was able to help
those regions fill in information about their early years. If your region
has a special anniversary coming up, you might check with him.
Vehicle history: Peter said he gets requests from folks who have purchased
certain vehicles and want some way to track the history of the vehicle.
This is a difficult process currently because he cannot track using a
logbook number or VIN. He has to work from where was this car raced and
when. And, the requestor does not always have that information.
Driver history: Driver files for those who have retired since 1970 are
pretty complete. If you're looking for information prior to then, there are
some holes (due to the way the records were recovered).
V. What You Can Do For Us
* Send newsletters.
* Never throw away old files without checking.
* Send any pertinent historical data you might have.
* Make your request for help easy by providing any and all information you
have, no matter how insignficant it may seem to you. There may be more that
one way to find the info you're looking for.
Currently, Peter has good support from the Board of Directors for the SCCA
Archives. As new directors come onto the board, it will be important to
ensure continued support for this valuable resource. The SCCA Foundation
can receive designated gifts from wills, either in support of the Archives
or in support of other funds within the foundation.
If you wish to contact Peter, his e-mail address is: hylton@surf-ici.com
Snail mail is: PO Box 549; Brownsburg, IN 46112
Just one to go ... from Peter Hylton's second Archives seminar.
Kelley Huxtable
Des Moines Valley Region
"Worker Bee"
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