Arabian Horse Archives, Inc. — A global museum to preserve breed history
I am issuing this call as an adviser and a friend to the project
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Invitation
YOU ARE INVITED to help shape the future of Arabian horse history as an Advisor to the Arabian Horse Archives Inc. — not to choose some aspects as important and sideline the rest, but to identify, preserve and protect archival materials relating to the world-wide history of the ancient and influential Arabian breed. The goal is to catalogue, and to facilitate the preservation of, such materials so that they are not only conserved but made accessible to students and researchers.
We need to become visible in order to be noticed. Our first goal is to populate arabianarchives.org and illustrate the wide range of topics of interest, and the forms in which information exists. We ask that each of you provide a high-resolution scan (or photograph of a three-dimensional object) from your collections, representative of some aspect of Arabian horse history. Local or international, antique or mid-century modern — it’s all history.
We need, in the current on-line environment, to develop an active social media presence. There is someone out there with the time and the skills to maintain Archives announcements on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms. We need some of you to put us in touch with them.
We need to identify collections of interest, and especially to determine which of them are in danger of near-term loss; we need to locate facilities for storage and conservation; and we need to plan for cooperation and sharing of conserved material under current best practices. Over time the goal is to develop the Archives web site to give access both directly to scanned content and indirectly by cooperative linking to library and museum collections.
We need your thoughts — about how to spread news of the Archives’ existence, how to encourage the preservation and inventorying of collections, and especially on subjects we haven’t mentioned because they haven’t yet occurred to us.
And, of course, we need funding if we’re to do any of this. The Archives is a 501.c.3 non-profit and we welcome your tax-deductible support, but again, we need more and bigger ideas, both on how to encourage donations from private individuals, and how and where to seek larger grants for the pursuit of specific projects.
Each of us has an archive — what’s in yours?
Sincerely,
Michael Bowling, President
Jeanne Craver, Director
Joe Ferriss, Director
Carolyn Hasbrook, Director
Howard Shenk, Director
POB 281, Winchester IL 62694
or online:
arabianhorsearchive@gmail.com • http://arabianarchives.org
Thanks, Edouard. This project needs to be widely publicized.
Is there a particular emphasis on the types of Arabians and history associated with them, or inclusive of all types outside of the the scope of DOTW?
All types outside the scope of DOTW. Carolyn Hasbrook on the board is one of the major Azraff-Ferzon breeders, and Michael Bowling started the CMK denomination.
The history of the breed, all-inclusive. We are reaching out to all of the groups we can locate. If you have suggestions, please contact us!
And look at what is in your archive, and think about what will happen to it if something happens to you.
And, if you happen to think of it in a generous mood, drop us a coin or two!
Perfect! Just wanted to make sure before I started chatting with folks. I do know a handful of old timers with a lot of connection to the breed and no internet presence whatsoever – was always worried about what would happen to their stuff when they passed on.
As far as the storage of old documents and the like goes, do we actually have someone on board who is trained in the safe storage and handling of said documents that is willing to do this on a volunteer basis? That seems like a pretty specialized training.
The only thing that I would have to offer are countless photographs taken at the EAO and some private breeders. If that is of interest I will gladly share all that I have.
I’m sure they are, Judi. These photos become such treasures as the years go by and less people remember the horses from in the flesh.
yes. While facebook is a great place to share them, it is not a great place to store them or search for them. Once you post them on FB, they also become public and you don’t own them anymore.
Judi, they are absolutely vital! Are you able to scan and identify them yourself, or would you need help with that?
Moira, we hope that most people will be able to and want to keep their own collection, and we would manage digital reproductions. That said, the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington is cooperating with us. They can’t give us unlimited space, of course, without funding. And they do have trained archivists, if something is singular and does not have another home. We obviously aren’t interested in trying to maintain duplicates of materials they already have in their collections.
I am inferring from this that at least a portion of funding generated will then likely go toward storage space and the cooperation with the IMH.
Well, we can’t ask them to do something for nothing! They are a public institution, with some funding through the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation and the state of Kentucky, but there is never enough. They have been very generous to us with their cooperation as much as they can.
Oh, absolutely!
What a great idea, nice to see many of the foremost individuals involved that have previously been supplying information as well.
Will The Arabian Horse Trust be involved?
I ask whereas I believe, they were most recently the main beneficiaries of the W.R. Brown/ Maynesboro Stud collection.
Jeanne, I have all of them identified and scanned. All I need is where to send them 🙂
Jeanne, I also have old video. I digitized it from old VHS. I can send these as well.
Hey Judi! Try emailing them to arabianhorsearchive@gmail.com. If the files are too large to email together (or even altogether), I’d recommend compressing them into a .zip folder for ease, and then emailing them in.
Even compressed, some files are too big, and may need to be sent via Dropbox, or some such. Or even by DVD! [smile]
The Arabian Horse Trust does not exist any longer. They placed their files as a collection with the International Museum of the Horse.
There is the Purebred Arabian Trust, or PAT, but that is something else.
So Judi, the Archive would be most grateful to have your materials. You can contact us through the above email, and we can work out what terms you wish to place on your material.
Judi, I wanted to follow up with you, and remind you of that email address: arabianhorsearchive@gmail.com