Heritage

Number 3 The Archives of Falconry Winter 2004-05

Archives of American Falconry

grows to become
The Archives of Falconry
Volunteer Staff

T
CURATORS
he original concept and basis for the formation of the Archives of American Fal-
conry was that our American falconry heritage was quickly disappearing. For the
S. Kent Carnie
most part falconry in the United States is less than 100 years old but our written
Archivist
history was quickly disappearing as earlier 20th century falconers passed on. The Archives was
John R. Swift formed with the stated mission of preserving American falconry history.
Books and Manuscripts
As falconers became aware of the opportu- able to donate funds to help sustain our ongo-
RESEARCH nity to preserve the record of our history, one ing preservation efforts. The result of all these
ASSOCIATES of the facts that became immediately efforts is the largest worldwide collec-
apparent was that early falconers tion of falconry related materials
Peter Barry Devers were dependent upon English in a single location which is
Eastern Region and European literature to open and available for
learn their craft. The first study and research—
Natalie Nicholson uniquely American conceived, devel-
Western Region works were not pub- oped, conducted
lished until 1939 by and financed by
GRAPHICS ASSOCIATES that first generation falconers.
of falconers. There- The recent
Donald Garlock, Jr. fore, many of the addition of
James E. Hansen materials we were what is consid-
James B. Stabler receiving were ered the most
from countries significant piece
PUBLICATIONS other than North of falconry
ASSOCIATE America. For exam- ephemera, the tea
ple, we soon found urn given to
William G. Mattox ourselves with a consid- Colonel Thomas
erable collection of British Thornton in gratitude
Falconry books. for his sponsorship of
One of the uniquely American “The Confederate Hawks of
concepts which has greatly benefited our Great Britain” (club) in 1781 and a
preservation efforts is the value and emphasis traditional Arab hunting tent have only con-
that our federal and state governments place tinued to spotlight this worldwide aspect of
on donations and volunteerism. Falconers are the collections. It is now more than appro-
able to donate valuable historical materials and priate that the name of The Archives be
obtain a tax deduction, giving them a direct changed to reflect the growth and interna-
personal benefit. Interested falconers are also tional scope of our collections.
the Archives of Falconry
Recent Acquisitions (to October, 2004)
N o listing of our acquisitions would be complete with- GARDNER’S generous sharing of a number of prints and
out thanks to KAREN YATES for the yeoman
(yeowoman?) service she has provided over the years, tran-
scribing our oral-history interviews and other historic audio- adorned the pages of the Oregon club’s early publications but
tape recordings. In the most recent instance: 5 reels of Al
Nye describing adventures hawking/traveling in Scotland
plus three tapes of an historic reunion of hoodmaker Brian
McDonald with NAFA’s first VP and Pacific Director, Bill
Shinners.
BILL MURRIN and CLIFF KELLOGG (separately)
gave your archives considerable collections of the papers and
other falconry memorabilia of the late
George Kotsiopoulos and Dick Peterson Japanese falconry art donated by Bill
(respectively). In each of those collec- Jameson.
tions were numerous pieces of NAFA
correspondence (Kotsiopoulos was pres-
ident in 1967 and Peterson the Pacific
Director, 1966-67). All these items—
official NAFA business documents—
have been transferred permanently to
NAFA’s Central Records for which we
act as official repository.
In a visit last winter, PETER KLÜH,
the new Secretary of the Deutscher
Falkenorden, brought copies of several
of his books for The Archives Library.
Peter is a major falconry book publisher
beyond his fame as DFO Secretary, fal-
coner and veterinarian. Of particular interest is a copy of his
translation into German of Webster & Enderson’s Game
Hawking..At its very Best.
Back to past NAFA officials: when we took Peter Klüh and
Christian Saar (DFO President) to meet BILL JAMESON,
NAFA President in 1964-65, Bill generously shared with all
of us (via your archives) two stunning original Japanese por-
traits, each depicting in color a goshawk on a screen perch.
On the same trip, Peregrine Fund Board Member (and for-
mer Air Force Academy falconer) PETER PFENDLER gave
us yet a third large classic Japanese rendering of a gos on a
screen. We are amassing a considerable collection of Japanese
falconry art as well as examples of that country’s hawking fur-
niture and even some videotapes and books—all tending to
re-emphasize the basis for our change of name.
On the subject of art, HEINZ MENG has given our col-
lection a real boost with the originals of three of his paint-
ings. NAFA members certainly will remember two of them,
previously reproduced in that Association’s publications: the
adult peregrine passing a bluejay to one of his young in
midair and the immature peregrine on a block biting at its
jesses. Now all we have to do is get them framed so they can
be displayed properly. Certainly we can’t overlook JUDY
paintings, including originals by her late husband Bryan. A
professor of art, Bryan was a dedicated falconer. His works
he is probably best known as the designer of the NAFA logo.
Judy’s gift now considerably expands our holdings of Bryan’s
originals.
Having received a car-load of FRANK BEEBE’S notes
and diaries last year, Frank recently called to share even more
with us. He has now passed to The Archives more notes plus
two albums each of photos and his original art work. For
those of you already familiar with
Frank’s raptor art, you should see some
of these new acquisitions; there are
some sea bird studies that are truly
exquisite.
Going back in our history MIKE
MELVILL, designer of probably the
most popular style of traditional swivel,
with his wife Sally, flew America’s first
two captive bred large falcons: prairies
Nip and Tuck produced by Henry
Kendall in 1968. More recently Sally
and Mike, now famous as the pilot of
Space-Ship-One on its 328,000+ foot
high flight, flew into Boise (in his “Long
Easy”, an aircraft he built and helped
design) to share with us prototypes of
some of his swivels and bells and, as an unexpected bonus, a
beautiful painting he had done of one of Jack Mavrogordato’s
sakers. Mike is truly one talented guy!
DAVID FRANK shared with us a particularly unique gift
this year: the “manuscript” by Sirdar Mohamad Osman which
David’s Western Sporting Publications produced as Falconry
in the Land of the Sun. David generously had a fine, archival
presentation box made for the typescript, providing us with a
container worthy of its unique contents.
FRANK and LINDA ELY have generously shared with us
some 66 falconry books from their library. Many falconers will
remember the outstanding collection of their books which
Frank displayed at the 1997 NAFA meet. Their collection of
unusual ephemera and foreign falconry titles, especially, is
unequalled in the U.S. Included in Frank and Linda’s gift this
year are a number of titles new for The Archives which we are
happy to add to our library for all falconers to enjoy.
As noted in our last newsletter, KEN RIDDLE was respon-
sible for Archives’ acquisition of a magnificent Arab majlis tent,
complete with all the trappings. A description of this stunning
gift deserves more space than we have here so (receipt of the
Thornton tea urn having preceded the tent) we plan to feature
the tent, with all its accoutrements in our next issue.

Individual/corporate contributors for the fiscal year ending Sept 30th, 2004
PREMIER PATRONS:
Kent Carnie, Walter Hill Family Foun-
dation, John Swift
PATRONS:
Gary Boberg, Pete and Kristi Edmunds,
North American Falconers Assn.
BENEFACTORS:
Kellie Cosho, Cliff Kellogg
COOPERATORS:
Blair Anderson, Dave Jamieson, New
York State Falconry Assn., Lou Woyce
SPONSORS:
Steve Black, Phil Bucher, Andrew
Bullen, Craig Edmonds, Tom Ennenga,
Dave Fluri, Steve Gatti, Richard
Hiester, Kirt Jones, Jed Lavitt, Bill Mal-
lon, Frank Renn, Ralph Rogers, Jeff
Sipple, Mike Yates
CONTRIBUTORS:
Ron Brown, Frank Buffo, Virginia
Cummins, Peter Devers, Barbara du
Pont, Mike Dupuy, Andy Feher,
Nathan Grove, Peter Harrity, Rich
Your help still needed
History never stops moving forward
and neither does The Archives of Fal-
conry. The collections grow as new
materials continue to arrive. Even
though the staff are all volunteers and
donate countless hours in preserving
these items, there are associated preser-
vation costs that require funds each
year. In addition, the facility which was
constructed to provide an environment
which will preserve our historical mate-
rials has operating costs that increase
yearly. Individual donations help pay for
these costs so your help is needed. Here
are some ways you can help!
Make a personal contribution. Since
Donors
Howard, Noel Quinn, Wayne Upton,
Robert Waite, Roger Wallace, Fred
Webster.
FRIENDS:
Blair Anderson, Bryan Catlin, Scott
Coleman, Randal Crownover, Grayall
Farr, Donald Garvin, Clair Hagar, John
Harrell, Anne Hocker, Kevin Hoffman,
Theodore Julio, Dan Muir, William
Murray, David Peltier, Wayne Penning-
ton, Antonio Pieres Pocas, Doug Potter,
Janet Pulver, Ray Rickard, Mike Roper,
Thomas Tarr, John Testa, Joseph Vencil,
Frederick Wallace, John Wennergren,
Russell Wischover, Wendie Wulff.
THE FOLLOWING ALSO
CONTRIBUTED WHEN RENEWING
THEIR NAFA MEMBERSHIPS:
Jeff Barnes, Elizabeth Creegan, Thomas
Evans, James Ferris, Robert MacGillis,
Kevin Manley, Lee Merrick, Lonny
Morgan, Shirley Needham, Russ Olin,
Stephen Peacock, Dave Perfetti, Shane
Phitides, Fred Reinhold, Mary Schoef-
fel, Josh Shown, Carl Thelander.
the Archives inception, individuals have
made personal contributions to support
our ongoing preservation efforts. Funds
received are used for current activities
or can be placed in the Endowment
Fund for long term support.
Make a club contribution. Numer-
ous clubs have summer picnics with
auctions and raffles to raise monies for
their activities. Why not allocate a por-
tion for The Archives? The Archives
often has duplicate artwork that can be
used to help raise these funds.
Make a donation through United
Way. Many United Ways have programs
that allow you to allocate your contribu-
heritage • Winter 2004-05
ADDITIONAL DONORS OF
HISTORIC MATERIALS:
George Allen, Gary Boberg, Frank
Bond, British Hawking Assn., British
Falconers Club, Ralph Buscemi, Albert
P. Clark, Peter Devers, Jim Enderson,
Andy Feher, Tom Gossard, Alan Green-
halgh, Bill Heinrich, Bob Herrick,
Richard Knight, Bill Mallon, Paul Man-
ning, Ross Matteson, Middle East Fal-
con Research Group, Jim Nelson, Julio
Cesar P. Guerra, Janet Pennington, Tom
Ray, Gordon Robinson, Marshall
Rodelli, Christian Saar, John Swift, Peter
Toot, Mark Upton, Roger Upton,
Washington Falconers Assn., Scott Web-
ster, Welch Hawking Club, Brad Wood,
Jonathan Wood, and Jenny Wray.
tion to The Archives. See if yours does.
Donate books that could be used in
our auction. Books are highly desired
by other falconers and an easy item to
sell at our annual auction. If you are
not using them as references and they
are just gathering dust, why not
donate them so other falconers can
read them, supporting The Archives at
the same time.
Today is tomorrow’s history! You
are already a part of it. Help us to pre-
serve all of our history by providing
personal financial support. Join with us
by providing a contribution in the
enclosed envelope.
The Peregrine Fund Non-Profit Organization
World Center for Birds of Prey U.S. POSTAGE
5668 West Flying Hawk Lane
Boise, Idaho 83709
PAID
BOISE, ID 83709
United States of America PERMIT NO. 606
www.peregrinefund.org

THE ARCHIVES OF FALCONRY

COLLECTIONS
Founded and operated by falconers INCLUDE

for falconers
Books

Periodicals
18 Years of Continuous Service
Photographs and
Slides
Tax-deductible Charitable
Correspondence
Organization
Journals and
Diaries
Located at The Peregrine Fund’s
Films and Videos
World Center for Birds of Prey
Oral-history Tapes

Equipment
Official repository for NAFA and
Art and Prints
several state clubs’ records
Memorabilia

See your history–visit your Archives! Please call (208) 362-8256 to arrange a tour.