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Re: Photo: PRR Boxcar

Garth Groff and Sally Sanford
 

Bob,

I have tried a couple of times to correct misinformation and been ignored. I suspect they didn't know me from Adam, and didn't want to take the time verifying my corrections. Now I just grimace and move on.

I was very successful correcting a badly mislabeled photo in the UVA Special Collections and Archives, but I had worked with many of the librarians in that section and had done several special cataloging projects for them. They fixed the problem immediately.

I have also been ignored by at least two local California historical societies/museums to which I offered donations of really good materials appropriate to their collections. Curiously, I was a member of one of these groups, and my offer was ignored three times (another railroad museum gratefully took the material almost immediately). Several other historical societies have accepted my donations, but then didn't have the grace to thank me for the materials. In fairness, I must say I was well treated by many other groups. It's been a mixed bag. And as for acknowledgement of donations, I would rather have the material preserved, lack of thanks not withstanding.

Yours Aye,


Garth Groff  🦆


On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 9:48 PM Bob Chaparro via groups.io <chiefbobbb=verizon.net@groups.io> wrote:
Actually, I have had very good responses from the several photo archives I have worked with.
These include USC, County of Los Angeles Library, City of Los Angeles Library and several Southern California historical societies.
The organizations I have found very non-responsive are smaller museums around the country, and that probably is a staffing issue as Garth noted. I am a member of the Board of the Hemet Heritage Foundation, which operates the Hemet Museum in the old Santa Fe Depot. Staffing certainly is an issue for us as we are an all volunteer organization.
I also have had some good luck correcting misleading or erroneous narratives published by various historical societies. But sometimes not. I found a horribly wrong narrative on-line published by a historical society in the California Central Valley. The narrative concerned the citrus industry and the transportation of oranges, something I do have a little knowledge of. It was so out of wack I could not suggest edits so I suggested to the organization's president that the whole article be pulled. His response was, "We are aware the Mrs. ______ sometimes is inaccurate in her writings but she is the town's historian and prominent local figure so no one wants to upset her". 
I wonder how often that is the case?
Bob Chaparro
Hemet, CA

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