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Convention Special 4
Hijacked Type Last Seen Enroute to Frederick
Early action has already been taken in preparation for the 1966 Frederick, Maryland, convention. As you read this, the convention press has been loaded and shipped to Frederick ready for the next convention’s daily paper. The type, loaned to the Philadelphia convention by R. W. Babcock, has been confiscated by the Frederick convention committee and has also been shipped. No chance for protest was allowed before the hijacking act occurred.
Flash! The first amendment proposed under the new procedure changes “proxy” to “absentee” ballots.
Bristol by Bus, Train and Dogsled
If you cannot badger a ride to the Segals’ in Bristol, trains leave the Reading Terminal, 12th and Market Sts., for Langhorne Pa., at 10:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.
Buses for Levittown Country Club Shopping Center leave the Greyhound Terminal, 18th and Market Sts., at 10:55 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
If transportation is not waiting to haul you to the Segals call ST 8-6841.
How Hadley Smith Lured the Recruits
by Sheldon C. Wesson
Edwin Hadley Smith was a one-man Institution in this hobby of amateur journalism, as a collector of papers and of people. Several of the long-lasting, top-ranking members of the NAPA today came into the ranks through the persistent recruiting campaign which he mounted in the early Thirties. Hadley was from time to time accused of “buying” members by offering to pay part of the dues of youngsters. But as we all know, the real bait that we cast for new members is the association’s product: its papers.
What did Hadley use for bait? A whole can of those worms has just come to hand through the good offices of Jack Coolidge: A recruiting packet and letter which Hadley sent in June 1935 to John H. Sisson of Wollaston, Mass. Mr. Sisson had apparently bought a Kelsey press, sent an inquiry to Glover Snow and in turn had been referred to Hadley.
The letter is straightforward enough: encloses an application and offers to have a membership credential printed for the prospect. (In those days you had to be an amateur journalist before you joined, not after you had served as president.)
It is interesting to see, through the assortment of papers Hadley sent, what he considered to be bait. The range is good: enough small papers to reassure the newcomer; enough large ones to stir his ambition; some old ones to suggest the history and continuity of the hobby. There are no mimeographed papers in the bundle. Whether this is oversight or deliberate, one may only guess.
The Amateur Printers Club is nicely represented in the bundle, directly and through the works of its members. A mainstay is a six-page introduction to the hobby and to the NAPA by Vincent Haggerty. Harold Segal is heavily represented: The Amateur Pressman, No. 1, 1932, one of the predecessor publications of the APC, which he edited; The New Times of May 1, 1934, and The Sea Gull of November 1933. George Trainer is represented by the The Empire of June 1934. Walter Stevenson’s Pioneer of Spring 1932 and George Andersen’s Garden State Amateur of April 1931 are there.
There are three current issues of The National Amateur, one of The Fossil, of course, and one of The Brooklynite.
Excitement is contributed by the December 1934 Oakland Sun. The Past is accounted for by the August 1902 Night Owl, April 1911 Forget-Me-Not, Sept. 1915 Zenith, Jan. 1911 Bay State Advocate, Jan. 1921 Hub Club Quill. Numbers 1 and 4 of The Californian are there (1933-34) and a 1931 issue of The Tryout.
A subtly international flavor is contributed by Almon Horton’s Amateur Writer’s Annual Guide for 1933, from England.
The balance of the bundle is accounted for by one issue each of Much Ado, The Perspective Review, Verde Mons, The Michigan Amateur, Queen City Amateur, The Mannetism, Printer’s Pet, The Oracle, The Bookmark, The Goldenrod, The Mascot, Ink Spots, The Eaglet, World Contact, The Coyote.
No fool, Hadley! It is hard to see how anyone could resist the quality and diversity of this assortment of goodies.
Writ by Hand by Pamela
Dad told me to write about what us children are doing, so here I am. Mostly we are fooling around in the swimming pool. That’s obvious. Also most of us got chlorine in our eyes, which stings terribly.
Aside from that, sometimes the movies are an entertainment. John Dow, David Wesson, Paul Haywood, and some other boys went one night. If they want to shell out two dollars for an ol’ movie, that’s their business.
Now this is what I’ve been doing when things get dull (which is infrequent). If there is such thing as elevator-hopping, that’s it. Sometimes I’d get into an elevator, and if anybody else was in, I’d go to the floor they were and switch elevators. Then I’d travel down to the lobby again. I meet more nice people that way.
I must say one thing – don’t worry about us kids. We take care of our own fun.
Gillick Gets Stoned at Fossil Luncheon
Having reached that time of life where I am becoming calcified, I now find that I should become Fossilized. Tillie Haywood borrowed a nickel from me at the Fossil luncheon, and I am waiting for her to come around for the other $3.95. While Amendment #14 was going round and round I was tempted to become ossified, but I resisted manfully, and voted neither for nor against. – J.G.
Total Attendance to Sunday Noon: 86 People, 1 Turtle
Late Saturday arrivals: Lillian and Parker Worley, E. Bralon, Harold Polis, Sunday arrivals, Wes Callender and Gerry, Bill and Helen Suzanne Groveman.