Craig,


On Aug 30, 2010, at 12:03 PM, Craig Kilby wrote:
> 
> snip
> 
> This brings me to an important point: not everything can be conveniently be found on the internet in the comfort of our own home. Old fashioned research still applies.

What I hate is my inevitable search, posting of queries, finding no good result, and then going at it the hard way AND THEN finding that it has already been compiled in e-format. 

I had this conversation with Marley Brown who was Dir. of Archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg back in the 1980's and I told him that I didn't see searching as research, but purely as druck work and that someday, we would have that info in e-format (this was when they were in the throes of computerizing) so that we could actually spend more time thinking about the results than in compiling them. I can't remember the exact response, but it was to the effect of: "Good luck with that" or "May we both live so long".

Britain has hordes of train spotters, bus spotters and the like who compile lists of every train, bus or whatever and some of those folks have it down to sprocket level. Perhaps we haven't achieved the population density for that to occur here but surely there must somewhere be folks who have compiled these lists out of some interest.

My bulging library has had several massive catalogues of info on Ford automobiles, tractors in general, tractors in specific, heavy equipment, barns and the like added of late as this business has gripped me by the throat. Anyone want to volunteer to do Chevrolet? or to compile price lists for items out of Monkey Ward?

Lyle Browning


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