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#1
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What happens to your Rocketry Collection when you die?
This is something I've been wondering about for quite some time.
I personally only have a small old BG/RG collection. I primarily just collect information like photos,.pdf's,etc. I literally have 1,000's. But when I pass away, most everything That I do have will end up in the landfill. As my only sibling is completely computer illiterate. I could create an url for the public to see my collection with my Onedrive using a public url, but I worry about the security of allowing that. The reason I'm asking this, I was absent from the rocketry scene from around 2008-9 till 3 years ago. In that time a number of people passed away, like Micromeister, and lately Doug Sams and Roy Green. I talked extensively with all 3 of those guys. And I miss their feedback. But I wondered, what happened to all their rocketry stuff? Did they leave a will for its disposal? And what about you? what plans do you have in place for your collection, whether it be old models and motors or just old catalogs? Have you made any specific plans on how your wife, husband, sons, daughters, etc will dispose of this? I mean if it all goes into a landfill, just think of all the history that will never be able to be retrieved for future generations of model rocketeers. So i'm interested in what you think about it. Thinking about the end is something nobody really wants to think about. But as we all know, it can happen in an instant.
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"Old Rocketeer's don't die; they just go OOP".....unless you 3D print them. |
#2
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Terry,
Outstanding question! As many of you know Jonathan Dunbar had an absolutely massive collection. He planned to sell it in retirement but, unfortunately became ill so that was not possible. Jonathan left all of his collection to Matt Steele to sell and donate the proceeds to the NAR (Thank You, Jonathan!). A number of us get together with Matt several times a year to photograph, package, and list the items on ebay. None of us had any idea what an incredibly labor and time intensive process this would be. Aftr several years we are only about 1/3 of the way through the collection and it will probably take another 4 - 5 years to do the rest. So your question is really important. Many of us think we have things we think belong in the Museum of Flight but the reality is, first, they probably already have it and, second, they are not accepting anything at this point because of dealing with the Stine, Estes, and Piester collections. The NAR gets inquiries several times a year from families wanting to donate a departed loved one's collection but the NAR has no good way to accomodate those requests. Last year one family did arrange to donate a large number of wonderful items to the Cannon Educational auction at NARAM, but that is often not easily possible. So the NAR usually suggests finding a local section to donate to, and we help with that. I know John Pursely's items were dealt with that way. So again, Terry, great question and something all of us oldsters should have a definite plan for. As for you, personally, let me nag you again about getting your history information written down for all of us. Nobody is better versed in the details of our history than you. I'm less interested in the items you have than in what you know. That would be a true tragedy to lose. So, sorry (not really, LOL) to be a pest about this but I figured you gave me the opening here. So, again, Terry really good question. By the way, I always loved MicroMeister's signature line "when I die my wife is going to have a hell of a yardsale." Don't know if it actually happened but I always loved the line. Steve |
#3
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Quote:
Someone who is computer literate from a local club may also be able to help with the computer based stuff and historic items and get them to the right places.
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The other day I sat next to a woman who has a profound fear of flying. I wanted to comfort her, so I said, "Don't worry, we're not gonna' crash. Statistically, we got a better chance of being bitten by a shark." Then I showed her the scar on my elbow from a shark attack. I said, "I got this when my plane went down off of Florida." - Dennis Regan |
#4
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Steve is right - the amount of stuff that Jonathan had is truly overwhelming!
One thing I am looking for is someone to take all the photographs of the rocket items we have listed and put them online in a searchable archive. That way, everyone can see what a lot of this stuff looked like, especially the rare stuff that few have seen, let along touched. I don't have the time or the expertise to do it, and I haven't really found anyone who has volunteered, so if you think that's you, please let me know. I probably have 600 items right now that could be put online. One thing we did find out is that don't think of sending kits or physical stuff to the NASM or Museum of Flight. They are both overwhelmed with items that have been donated. Terry, paper items like most of what you said you had, may be of interest to the NASM. They have done a nice job cataloging and making both G. Harry Stine's and Herb Desind's available. I have a good point of contact there that you can talk to, if you are interested. Matt |
#5
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Space!
Matt, I think the biggest hurdle to jump to create such an online archive is...SPACE! That's right, physical space. Storage space. Disk space.
I've contemplated creation of an archive for many years (I've got a ton of kits and content), but what's always stopped me is the actual COST of web site/storage space. Once you start saving images, PDF's, etc. of all the rocketry content our hobby has amassed, it's going to require many, many terabytes of storage. AND, because of the nature of the web hosting business, that archive is going to need some really big "pipes" (i.e. bandwidth) to the internet, and most web hosts charge by the amount of traffic that comes & goes from the servers they host. My suggestion is this: We, as a rocket community, need to find a "sugar daddy/mama" who can fund such an archive. Perhaps it should be an organization, like the NAR. Or perhaps an aerospace company with a bunch of computing resources would allow an archive on a corner of their web architecture/storage area network (similar to the TARC model of corporate sponsorship). I'm sure there are many of us techies out here who would gladly give of our time to setup such an archive and help populate it/get it off the ground, but we don't have the financial wherewithall to fund it. Just my two cents!
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Dean Fox NAR #53946SR ---- "Wherever you go, there you are" |
#6
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This is indeed a good question to raise. I was thinking about it earlier today as I added three more eBay-acquired Alphas (dating from the mid 1970s to perhaps 1981) to the box of them I have that spans pretty much the history of the model (with a couple of fairly significant gaps). But once I have it all documented, then what?
And that's not to mention the over 550 kits that I have acquired in the past 13 years or so after returning to the hobby. My wife is now joining me in building and flying, and I've passed a few on to grandkids, but between us we will never build/fly what we have, even if Estes (and others) never produce another that we would like to get. As the keeper of one small local NAR section that has received a few donations of stuff from people leaving the hobby (or from the offspring of some who have passed away), we really don't need that stuff either. I don't know what the bigger sections around here need or don't need... so while arranging to have stuff donated sounds like a good idea, as a practical matter, I wonder. Still, especially preserving the historical information, even if not all the artifacts, is something I would support, if I knew how to best do so.
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Bernard Cawley NAR 89040 L1 - Life Member SAM 0061 AMA 42160 KG7AIE |
#7
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Over at the NAR Community Forum they have a section titled, "Digital Library—Photos, Plans, and Publications". This might be a good place to upload digital copies of stuff you have.
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Web Site and Blog https://rocketryjournal.wordpress.com YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@AustinAerospace 3D Printing Designs https://www.thingiverse.com/austin_aerospace_education Software https://sourceforge.net/u/austinaerospace/profile |
#8
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Hopefully I BUILD all of mine in retirement !
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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!! Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't ! Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY. ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC ! |
#9
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I too have seriously considered how to handle my collection in the event of my passing and I have not settled yet on a good, square answer. Basically, I am directing most of this kind of stuff to charity, but that would require someone liquidating it all…no small effort. Lots of info and documentation scanned, like others have, and not sure how best to handle THAT part either.
But, I would probably help support ($$) a central database/web archive, etc if one could be established. Earl
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Earl L. Cagle, Jr. NAR# 29523 TRA# 962 SAM# 73 Owner/Producer Point 39 Productions Rocket-Brained Since 1970 |
#10
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I didn't know Micromeister passed.
Gus, his sig line was the first thing I thought of. For those with larger collections this will be a burden for the family. I don't have much relative to others on this forum, but still, my wife wouldn't know how to handle it. I'm guessing it would get put to the curb or auctioned off for pennies in an estate sale. certainly a will is a good idea, and never too soon to make it. and hopefully the benefactor has the time and ambition to deal with it. |
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