[Phono-L] MAPS going strong -

Mon Jun 22 18:24:38 PDT 2009

RON: you're echoing the plight of any and all organizations that deal in historic artifacts. The nmembership is aging, and there are no (or very few) new bodies to replace them (us). I belong to MAPS, of course, and the membership is past age 55 or 60 on the average. Nobody wants to take any of the reins, just because they feel that someone else, who is younger should do it. But there isn't anyone who feels up to it. I've been in MAPS since around 1981. I'm 80 now, and I just ain't up to it.  The three vintage car clubs I belong to tell the same story. A lot of it has to do with the fact that, whatever the artifact, there will be nothing for today's people to look back on in the future, and appreciate as an artifact. All of out sound and sight devices today are throw-away trash. There is no serviceability for them, and nobody would treasure them enough to keep them in service.  When one of the things becomes either worn out, or defective, it's replaced, and discarded. 

 It never was that way in the thirties and forties. There were radios, phonographs, clocks, and cars that I drooled over, wishing I could have "one of them-there". Time passed, and I bought an old car to restore. I bought radios and phonographs that I lusted for. I bought armloads of records that appealed to me.At last, I would have what I admired when I was a kid. That story is that of most of us, I'll bet.

 But what today, do our younger generation see that they aspire to posess. What things, like beautiful cabinetry do they have to admire, and want some day? The era of excellence and beauty has passed.  Is there anything today, that any of us would adore? I can't think of anything that qualifies as fine and noteworthy. There are probably no motion pictures that I would care to preserve, as I have from other eras. 

So, there is what my aged eyes see as a future for our treasures. Too few of our younger generations can appreciate hat we do. We do, because we admired fine things of our past that were beyond our reach. That whole thing has changed now, and I haven't any good thoughts about how to rejuvenate any of our hobbies. They're all singing the same song of woe.   

> [Original Message]
> From: Ron L <lherault at bu.edu>
> To: Antique Phonograph List <phono-l at oldcrank.org>
> Date: 6/22/2009 9:24:12 AM
> Subject: RE: [Phono-L] MAPS going strong - 
>
> What I'm reading here seems to echo what I see in local (to me)
> organizations, our historical society, of which I am a member, for instance.
> Our annual meeting was attended by the board of trustees and one or two
> other members.  We get maybe 20 people at our monthly meetings, some of whom
> are non members and we have 150 or so who are members ( at one time it was
> over 200).  We have trouble finding people to serve on the board.  Our
> treasurer has wanted to step down for a couple of years now.   Our
> membership is aging.   We'd be overjoyed to see people in their 40s join.
> They'd be youngsters compared to most of us who are on the board.    I don't
> have a solution or suggestions but I will be following the thread closely.
>
> Ron L
> (twice, past-president of the North Attleborough Historical Society)
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: phono-l-bounces at oldcrank.org [mailto:phono-l-bounces at oldcrank.org] On
> Behalf Of Srsells1 at aol.com
> Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 12:20 AM
> To: phono-l at oldcrank.org
> Subject: Re: [Phono-L] MAPS going strong - 
>
> In a message dated 6/20/2009 6:30:53 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
> cdh041 at earthlink.net writes:
>
> Good  message, Steve. Are you asking me, or telling me? 
>  
>  
> Asking. BTW, maybe it's a senior moment (and I don't get on Phono-L a lot)  
> but I can't remember who you are by name. (Sorry but you haven't signed 
> your  last postings and your email doesn't give me a clue. Did I miss it?)
>
> I've  been a member of MAPS since about 1981, so I do have an idea what's 
> going on  with the group here in Michigan. I've even written articles on 
> occasiion. I  did the presentation for, I believe, three of the
> phonoventions. 
> You're in  Philly, 600 miles from here,  and I'm  in Michigan, where this  
> outfit is based. I don't think that you've seen any of what went on here. We
>
> see your articles, but we've never seen you. 
> My guess is that MAPS is based in MI but has regional chapters. The meeting 
>  in I are really the regional meetings. We don't have a regional group here 
> - and  I don't think we will either. I did come to one Phonovention and 
> made a trip of  it but I have other alliances for my travel time and I
> choose 
> to go to ARSC's  Conference every year - for the last 20 years. I'm also 
> their volunteer  Treasurer (8th term). Anthony Sinclair in Australia and
> Rond D 
> in CA aren't  coming to meetings in MI but they, like me, sure contribute a 
> lot of time to  input on ITG. From the emails I get thanking me, I guess 
> folks appreciate my  efforts as well. MAPS is more than monthly meeting in
> MI, 
> as I said before. At  least I think that's what those members outside MI 
> (the majority) feel. (Hey, I  could be wrong. <g>)
>
>
>
> My claim that MAPS is falling apart in Michigan is based on the  fact that 
> there are no monthly meetings, hosted by members who are collecters.  I have
>
> a lot of radios (about 600), and probably 20 phonographs, many of them,  
> part of the radios but there's no space here for hosting a meeting. Also,
> I'm  
> no longer the kid that I was, and that's a factor as well. I enjoy sharing 
> my  chatter with the other members in the meetings. Don't get the idea for a
>
>  second that I'm a freeloader. I sort of read that in your copy. We've lost 
> the  cohesion that we once had. Phil Stewart has wanted to pass the 
> editorial torch  to someone else, and there have been no takers. That's a
> thankless 
> job that  has to be done. The publication is the foundation of any 
> organization, and you  don't find  editors, standing around on some street
> corner. 
> In the  absence of a new taker, Phil consented to stay on for a while
> longer. 
> How much  longer will it be reasonable for Phil to hang on? Like all of us, 
> he's going  to 
> need a rest. 
>  
> I can't help with the local meeting issue. Maybe you folks want to go  
> bi-monthly (every two months). I thought I saw a local meeting listed each  
> month. Yes, Phil wanted to retire but they wanted an Editor in Mich), Maybe
>
> someone outside Michigan could be editor (NO, I'm not volunteering). But
> it's  
> the members OUTSIDE MI who pay their dues - really a subscription - which 
> allow  the high quality offset graphics and layout. (Guess you may not have 
> seen the  earliest mimeographed issues. (I have them!). Again, I have no 
> answers  here.
>
>
>
> The interest is here, but it has to be re-kindled, and  hopefully to the 
> pitch that it once was. That's going to take imagination,  dedication, and 
> just plain leadership. It isn't there now. Somebody has to  take the reins,
> and 
> get this rig back in motion. The monthly (or nearly so)  meetings were 
> something to liook forward to, and to remember afterwards. That  getting 
> together once made a strong, and enviable organization. It's  somewhere,
> asleep, 
> and needs to be awakened. I hope to live long enough to see  it.  None of
> that 
> is going to be easy, but it will be rewarding, once it  gets thing going 
> again. 
>
> Then maybe new younger members need to be found. That's all I can think of. 
>  I feel your pain. Until he died about 5 years ago, Dave Heitz would hold 
> an  annual gathering at his house (a more generous man I have yet to meet.) 
> These  are now long gone and miss seeing the fellow collectors. But, here in
>
> the east,  no one is taking the reins.
>  
> I hope my comments don't sound harsh. They are not meant to be. I'm not  
> sure anyone here has the answer but I hope all realize that without members 
> (or  subscribers, if you wish) MAPS and ITG cannot grow. So spread the word 
> (this is  to all Phono-Lers) and get new members or subscribers. It's still
> a 
> great  bargain.
>  
> Steve Ramm
>  
>  
>  
>
>
>
>
> **************Make your summer sizzle with fast and easy recipes for the 
> grill. (http://food.aol.com/grilling?ncid=emlcntusfood00000004)
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