Outstanding Meeting Held in Wilmington

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Jul/Aug 2004 by Hall, Elton

Saturday morning, May 15, saw unusually heavy traffic in the lobby as vendors, exhibitors, booksellers, and collectors scurried about having breakfast and lining up their merchandise and collections for the tool displays and exchange. In an effort to achieve fairness, vendors were allowed to bring their goods to the table but not to start unpacking until the doors were open to all. For the rest of the morning members went from table to table doing the two things collectors and vendors, most of whom are both, like best.

There were also a number of member's tool displays. There was quite a range of subjects from one or more particularly choice items, to groups of related material, to didactic displays of tools used for the accomplishment of a particular task. The most memorable, however, was Hal Logan's $100 tool kit. A year ago, he made a list of about seventy-five tools that would be required to form a basic kit and then set out to visit flea markets and yard sales to see how far he could get on it without spending more than $100. He succeeded fully and a little more at prices ranging from ten cents to $5.00, spending a total of $99.55. After the tool sale and displays were over, Hal donated the entire collection to the silent auction.

The tool display and sale wound down at midday, and members went off to pursue various activities. Many returned to Winterthur for tours of the permanent collection and gardens. Others visited some of the other attractions about Wilmington, but most all were back at the hotel for the silent auction. Eighty lots were donated and produced spirited bidding. The bid sheets on Hal Logan's gift were watched with considerable interest to see how his experiment would work out. Broken up into fifteen lots, the collection and chest brought $659. (See photo on page 11.) Delighted with the results, Hal declared his intention to do it again for next year and challenged others to find some collecting goal for the interval between now and the meeting next year in Charleston, see what can be accumulated, and then find out how much the collection will produce for the EAIA when donated to the silent auction. (See Pete Haihaway's account of the auction on page 11.-Ed.)

The annual business meeting followed dinner. We worked through the usual agenda with financial, presidential, and directorial reports followed by election of Ken Culnan as secretary, a report that Ted Kinsey, John Wells, and Bill Curtis had been elected and Linda Stanton reelected to the board.

Phil Cannon had resigned as first vice president, so the board appointed Don Rosebrook to move up to his position, Bill Curtis to become second vice president, and Phil Cannon to fill the term vacated by Bill Curtis to become second vice president. Hal Logan was encouraged to speak about his project that had resulted in not only a fascinating tool collecting project but a fine gift to EAIA.

That being the only "other business," we thanked Ken Clay, Lisa Reber, and Frank Kosmerl for their service on the board and awarded long time service awards to Terry Hansen, and Bill and Judy McMillen. The J.D. Hatch award went to Elliot M. Say ward. A motion to adjourn was promptly approved, and that concluded the 2004 Annual Meeting.