Hobby history: The making of the 1960 American Card Catalog

[trdcrdkid]

I usually don't do two of these hobby history posts in one day, but I've got the materials for this one in front of me, so I'm going to bang out a followup post to the one I just wrote about the 1946 American Card Catalog. This one is about the making of the 1960 American Card Catalog, the last new edition and the one most people are familiar with.

Scanned below are front-page articles from seven consecutive issues of Card Collector's Bulletin, from June 1, 1959 to June 1, 1960, encompassing the writing and publication of the 1960 catalog. In the June 1, 1959 issue, Jefferson Burdick announced that it was "catalog time", and that he would have four co-authors on the new catalog: Charles Bray, Woody Gelman, Buck Barker, and Preston Orem. Over the next four issues of CCB, each of these four co-authors wrote a front-page article about the catalog: Gelman, then Barker, then Orem, and finally Bray. In the April 1, 1960 issue, Burdick wrote up some "Catalog Reflections", and in the June 1, 1960 issue, after the catalog had been published, he wrote a short article, "We Thank You All", about the reception of the catalog and some errors that had already been discovered, which Burdick looked at philosophically.

[Leon]

Thanks again for posting these David.

LL

[SteveMitchell]

Great stuff, David. We are fortunate to have your regular Hobby History contributions! The quality of print (spirit duplicator or "ditto" (issues #120-121, 123) vs. mimeograph (#124-126) and Buck Barker's crisp, clean type (issue #122) should make us all appreciative of the transformation the computer age has brought in terms of readability.

One (or more) of the articles referenced the recent passing of several prominent collectors - 57+ years ago. It is good to know at least a few names mentioned among the younger set of those days are still with us today (at least so far as I know) - though they're no doubt greying a bit. Bob Thing (still residing near his 1960 hometown of Waterville, Maine, in Skowhegan) is still active in collecting as are, I believe, Jeff Morey, Dwight Chapin, Mike Andersen and Ray Medieros - and perhaps others mentioned. Sadly, however, all the principals involved in the 1960 ACC have long since passed on, though their legacy remains for us to appreciate more than a half century later.

Steve

[trdcrdkid]

I've corresponded recently with Dwight Chapin and Ray Medeiros, and they're both great guys. Dwight is a member of this board, and while I don't think he has ever posted, he sent me a nice PM a few months ago about my hobby history posts. (Hi, Dwight!) Ray sold most of his cards years ago, but is still active in the hobby. I have many of his old hobby publications going back to the 1940s, with the date he received each issue written neatly on the cover.