Some readers may recognize the occasional Collector article featuring the annual Key, Lock and Lantern convention of railroadiana collectors. And yes, the David Hamilton by-line on the convention announcement is related to this publisher. Our son has been collecting and researching railroad history since – well, for as long I can recall.
Organizations for collectors of particular antiques have been around for many years, and it seems some have fallen by the wayside. It takes a quite a bit of work to keep a volunteer organization operating, so it is no surprise if they sometimes fade away. But, surprising to me, there are more operating than one may assume.
I recently unearthed a file of “clubs” that the previous publishers of the Collector had assembled some years ago. With the ability to search the internet today I decided to “test” a few to see if they still existed. To my surprise many surfaced in a Google search. Clubs continue to exist, though some of their websites or social media pages are pretty basic and don’t provide much information about their activities.
Clubs are often sources of information that their members have developed from years of research. They can be place of “debate” over this or that relating to the particular genre of interest. And some still facilitate trades of items among the collectors.
If, among our readers, there are club “officers” or organizers, we’d be happy to share the organization’s information. Send it along!
