I have thousands of letters written in the 40s from dealers to and from Jim Swoger There are also tons of advertising materials related to various performers. The graphics on the letterheads alone, are a treasure to behold. I have lots of Swoger and Grant original advertising cuts and graphics too.

It's become obvious that I need to do something with all this wealth of information. Some of the letters state the ownership of certain effects while others detail who was the first to produce and sell them.

Unfortunately, I am so absorbed by the everyday concerns at the shop that I really don't have time to deal with all this info... but it needs put into the hands of every magician who is interested. I do not wish to donate or give away all this stuff but am looking for a way to organize and possibly publish it. There is a LOT of work ahead but it needs to be made public.

I have the personal instruction books that belonged to Sherm, Mellon, Massey and a book of invoices/letters from Grant and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I guess that I need someone (who has a track record) to come over and look at all of it and possibly get involved. I will try to make some sort of list of what's stuffed in 10 drawers and 8 storage boxes.

jay 714 847 5311
jleslie@quik.com

WoW! Jay. You certainly have tons of valuable info there. Certainly worth the effort of turning it to something worthwhile.

If I piled all the papers up it would be 7 or more feet tall.

I started to scan some of the letterheads and promotional photos into the computer (over a year ago) and ran out of steam at 150 pages. 150 pages is a miniscule amount compared to the total yield.

I wish I could just pour the wealth of info, contained, into everyone's head.

I can tell you this much EVERY manufacturer and I mean everyone, in the 30s, 40s and 50s.... all of them had a hundred excuses why products didn't ship on time. In today's "got to have it for a show on Saturday" mentality, people would die, waiting by the mailbox for that all important delivery that was due a month earlier.

Most every dealer was friendly with each other, unlike todays internet-cut-throat-for=a=dime-less, I'll sell it to you, mind set. Not always.... but usually.

What have you got in mind? What product are you thinking of coming out, Jay? I would love to see the fruits of your labor.

I'm just supposin the best way to get all this published.

Jay,
Strictly out of curiosity, how did you obtain all these letters ?
Rennie

I inherited them from my mentor, James Wesley Swoger http://houseofenchantment.com/pages/aboutuspage.html