Just got back Sunday from the Collins Collector's Association Summer
Meet at Cedar Rapids. I had a chance to meet with the members, go on a
tour of the Rockwell-Collins plant, and talked with both Rod Blocksome
K0DAS (Rockwell contact and resident company historian) and Linda
Langston (Executive Director of the Linn County History Center, who gave
me a tour of the Center and almost 3 hours of her time Saturday
afternoon to talk about just what it takes to put an exhibit together,
like her recent exhibit on Arthur Collins).
I'm not worried about the potential to get good historical information,
and possibly loans of Collins equipment, from Rockwell, the Linn County
History Center, or the CCA membership. What I am worried about is the
ability to muster the kind of manpower and man-hours that Ms. Langston
feels will be required to put together an exhibit of this magnitude
(even if we scale it back to 1,000 or 2,000 feet). Her conservative
estimates (which I would consider to be fairly expert) would be that we
would need the continuous part-time contributions of at least 10
motivated volunteers. These volunteers would need to contribute much
of their spare time over the next year, and probably all of their time
for the final 2 weeks to set up the exhibit.
Tasks that would be done by volunteers would include:
- Correspondence
- Grant-writing
- Soliciting in-kind donations of services from local businesses
(duplication, graphic arts, materials, etc.)
These three items will be much of our initial effort, and we will likely
need to seek many sources of funding and in-kind donations.
- Exhibit planning/drawings
- Making artifact lists
- Meetings with Museum officials
- Coordinating shipments (possibly both ways) of donations and loans
- Some Cleaning/Refurbishing of artifacts
- Meeting with veterans to collect oral history
- Exhibit construction (moving, carpentry, electrical work, antennas, etc.)
Probably I and one or two others would be the core leadership and
expertise (and we're likely to get some expert advice with regard to
grant-writing and exhibit planning), so no great experience is necessary
to be a volunteer, just some time, enthusiasm, and ability to work in a
team. I would probably need a lead carpenter or electrician, however,
as I'm not an expert in either area.
What this implies is that I need firm commitments from motivated people
to participate in this project in order to make it happen. Right now, I
have myself, Steve Hunt KB0MYH, and at least some promised help from
Darwin Piatt WB5HZH (thanks Steve and Darwin). I'd very much like to
see 3 or 4 more volunteers by the end of the month, and put those
volunteers to work right away seeking at least a half-dozen more (up to
a manageable limit, the more volunteers, the less work for everyone).
As with the USAF QSO Party project, we'll certainly be discussing this
at upcoming meetings. I see the make-or-break decision point occurring
in late October, as that's when we will know the outcome of our contacts
with Rockwell, the CCA, our "Strays" announcement in QST (due to appear
in September), and announcements in all the local club newsletters.
I see this as an important opportunity, but I'm not going to kill myself
trying to do it all, or jump up and down cajoling and pleading with
members to participate. If members feel that it is important, and can
spare some modest, but continuous, spare time to make it happen, then
they should step forward and volunteer. Otherwise, we should make a
realistic decision (fairly early on) that it's just not within our
capabilities (now, or in the future), and live with that decision.
73, Paul, K3FU
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