American Fly Fisher Detnil fi-om (I ~(IOT~~TLIT a- H 1 11 New Ed,b;L New Priorities ON DECEMBER5, 1989. twenty- exhibits to museums and outdoor ex- three of the Museum's trustees positions around the country last year, met at the St. Francis Yacht Club and I expect that we may well surpass in San Francisco for AMFF's an- that total by mid-summer 1990. Our nual business meeting, where the commitment of taking the Museum to mootl was upbeat and enthusias- people across the country remains as tic. I suspect that all who at- stronp0 as ever. tentled the meeting felt we had turned In order to make this program of ex- a corner and were ready to embark on pansion a reality, we formed an ener- an exhilarating period of g1-owth and in- getic and motivated Development creased professionalisn~at the Museum. Committee in San Francisco. This com- We have provided our readers with mittee met in Boston on February 8, some of the highlights of the meeting in 1990, where it was resolved that it would the "Museum News" section of this issue, "Plan, organize, implement and success- but one item of special significance has fully complete a capital drive to fund the emerged. It was resolved that AMFF proposed renovation of the Museum would expand its Manchester facilities . ." Consequently, "The Campaign for and generally make the Museum a more the American Museum of Fly Fishing: interesting and attractive place to visit. Preserving A Rich Heritage For Future This means that we intend to renovate Generations" will be launched in the and expand the Museum's interior coming months. Our goal is a fully com- spaces in order to create additional pub- puterized, professionally managed ed- lic exhibition areas, an audio/visual ucational institution that is capable of room, a "Touch and Feel" area for our addressing the needs and expectations young visitors, and more. Does this of a growing and sophisticated audience. mean that AMFF is cutting.1 back on its We feel this goal is attainable, for the traveling exhibits program? Not at all; leadership of this museum is strong and in fact, now that we have a new profes- vitally aware of the challenges it faces as sional curator, we feel that we will prob- we move into a new decade. ably expand the program. We sent nine D.S.J. of ning Preserving a Rich Heritage for Future Generations SPRING1990 VOLUME16 NUMBERI 1'RUSTEES Fnstcr Ham RoI) Slirchrll \Villiam B.trrett \V;~ll;tcrJ. Slurr;tv 111 Rruce I[. Begin N';IYIIC!i~~rdhc,~-g P;IIII Bnl~nger I.c.ig11 11. l'crkiti\ 1-ewis M. BII~~ICIIIll R~III~l'c,rkins 19th Century American Reels from Robert R. Buckrn;t*ter AII;III K. I'II~IJ~~ ROY I.III, r. 0.Slilc\ Pollartl A Treasury of Reels .................... 2 l'etrr (:orI~in SUSIIIA. I'opLin Charles K. I.:i<l~el Kcit11 (;. K~~\sell Jim Brown C;. 1)ick Finl;tv 1)r. I\.;ln Scl~loff W. Michael Fitlgrl~tld I'i~ltl Scl~t~llery Arthur '1'. Frry Frcdcric A. Sharf Larry (;ils(l#rrl Slrphcn Sloan Lyle L. Dickerson and the Rodmaker's Rod .... 12 Gardner I.. (;r;tnt \Vall.~crSter~hot~sc~~r. William Iicrrick :l~-tl~t~rStern Gfrald S. Stein, M.D. with James W. Schaaf Curtis Hill 1)1-. ktlf Stinson Dr. Arthur Kacmmcr Forrest Str;~igl~l Rnhcrt J. K;11in James 'I';~vlnr Woods King I11 Ral1111,I. 'l'i~~glc Livingston Stone: Pioneer Fisheries Scientist. ... 18 Martin I). Klinc J;I~TIC\\V. V;tn ~.CI;III Slrl Krrigcr S;tm V;tr~ Sc5s Frank E. Raymond Richard F. Krcs, I)ick\nt~I.. Whitncv licR. lclli E;trl S. \Z'~~r\ha~n Ian I). M;~ckav E(Iw;~rd(;. Zcrn Book Review: A New Walton Bibliography. ....23 OI.'FI(:ERS Joe A. Pisarro ~.~ll/lil-lll~lll14 I/IC I~ll/lr/l Kc~l)ertJ. Kahn I'rt~vidrnt Museum News ........................ 24 1.righ H. Pertins Irir(,I'I-I~.\I(/~~II~ William H~I-ritk Letters .............................27 ON HE COVER: T/lr ncl~nrssof Ihr collections rf the Anzrrlcc~nMzcsrlrvrl of Fly F/\/~ir~g01~ rrfl~cIrd 171 fhe~e191/1 and 20th crnl/c~Ametlcrcn STAFF reels, pnrt of tllr 800-plzcs leek held by the Mzueztnl. Pl~oto<grapA Ex~r111i1,oI)~r(,rlor l~vBoh O'Shrc~cglrner\y,Expo.ilrrr* Pltce Lfrl., Boston, MA. Donald S. Johnson Exrr~lir~rAs\i.\lo~~t Virgini;~Hulctr Czrmtor/l)n~cln/~~n~~~~lA.rr~.\lrr~r/ Al;inn;t 1). Fisher 7%rAwpnr,1,, I;l, F,.~brr.is puhlishcrl four tlmes a ,,r.tr h%thr Museum .,I P.O. U<,x 12. M:!nrheatrr. Vermont 0525.1. Puhlicd~bndatrs arc wntcr. sprtng, sunmlcr. and fall. !vl.lcmlx.rrhiprlucs inrludr the cost nf a one-\car rul~scription(Y'II) rncl .trr lax dr<lu<ttl,lras provided fnr hr law. Zlrml,crrhip r:ttc\ arc ltrlrd ~n the hack ol carh issur. :\I1 IPIIP~~.manu\cri1~ts. pholr,~raphr. and malerials intrndrd Inr publiration in the The American Fly Fisher ic,ornal ,l,<,ulcl l~.scnl to thr hlurrom. The >liarrum nnrl journal .srr not resp,nsilrlr for unsolicircd rn.#nttsrnpts. ~ll-.nving,.p11otogr;tphs. n~.ltrrialsor men~orahilia.7'hr hlurrum rannot ac<rpt rcaprrnsihilitr for L//il/lr rt.llrment\ anrl !ntrl-lnclar!anr th.tt ;nc xholl!. the author'r. L'nrolicite~lrnanurrripts cannot Ix rclurncd unless Don;iltl S. Jt~hnson ~mfl'.!gcL* [,rovlclecl. Contrll,tnlion* 10 Tltr A?urr8mn Fly F1118t-I .ITP 10 1% considered gr;ttultnus and the propcrl\ 01 thr hlureunl 11nler5otherwisr rrqtar\~edb\ the c<,n~ribotor.Arthlrr apl,caring A.i\or~rrl~~Erlitor in lhir iourn.tl .trr ahrtrac~crl.tnd indercd in Ilnlorrrrrl .46~1rnrhand Arn~nrrr-Ilnron and 1.tfi. hlargor Page (i,[>vtighl " I!I!IO. lhr Antrrhan >lusrun~<,I FI\. Fishing. >lanchencr. Vermont 115254. Arl I)ir(,r/or OngtnaI mater~;tl.~l,lx;~ring ma\. not I,r ~~~~~~~~~d wi~l~otatprior permirrion. Snnnd Clnsr I'crrnit ~x,st;~gcpaid .$I Manchester. Vrrmont 05!?54 Rand;~llK. I'erkins and :ld<litional ofllrrr (I'SPS 057 110). OfFwt PI-P~~I~(I/IOII(III~I'rifrli~~g Tlzv A,nrr>rnn Flu h,lrr,r (ISSN OXX4-SSf(L') Lane Press, Burlington. Vertilont I'OSfhl!\STER: Srnrl :ri<lre,s ch.anars I<>The :\mera:tn FI\ Fisher. P.O. Ha,s .I?. \larshrrtrr. Vrrmnnt 05!?i-l. TAFF SPRING 1990 1 Bob O'Shaughnessy I 19th Centuryfl American Reels from A Treasury of Reels by Jim Brown Frankly, I knew next to nothing rounded by fly reels, and early on Z catalogued United States, 1838-1940, and was just about fly reels before joining the staff quite a few: the old and the new, the glittering finishing another, A Treasury of Reels. of the American Museum of Fly Fish- members of the aristocracy, and those humble Both Jim's book and manuscript were often ing in 1987. The purpose orfunction reels of uncertain pedigree. I soon came to used in-house by our staff as important ref- of a fly reel? Why, just to hold line, think of the Museum's reels as our crown erence tools. But that manuscript was some- of course. Or so I thought at the time. jewels, for there are probably no other objects thing very special, and it was clear that once Then I learned that far from a minor in our collections that lend themselves so well published, this was going to be a book to be actor, a reel serves a number of functions, to disblav.1, reckoned with, for not only had Jim written not the least of which is that of an active Frequent questions from Museum visitors a brilliant history of the fly reel, he had also partner to the rod and the angler infighting prompted me to survey the literature on the completed the herculean task of compiling a fish once it's been hooked. I learned, too, subject, and I found the writing of reel experts museum-catalog entries on all of the 800-plus that reels are designedfor use on specijic game such as John Orrelle, David Beazley, and reels in AMFF's collection. Jish, both fresh- and salt-water varieties, and Steven Vernon to be pleasurable as well as We are pleased to publish herein selected for use under specijic conditions. This ex- enlightening. And then I discovered the writ- excerpts on the early history of American fly plained the hundreds of types and models in ing of another authority, Jim Brown. Jim had reels from Jim Brown's A Treasury of existence. already published a superb little gem of a book Reels. Once at the Museum, Z was literally sur- entitled Fishing Reel Patents of the D.S.J. 2 TAFF SPRING 1990 DURINGTHE EARLY PART of the nine- of the American Museum of Fly Fishing, teenth century there is very little indig- for example, is a New York-style salmon enous ~mericanliterature on angling. or saltwater reel engraved "G. C. Fur- The New York reel is a large brass or One of the earliest and most useful vol- man made 1826 Rebuilt 1838." In gen- German-silver saltwater reel capable of umes from this period is Jerome V.C. eral, though, it was not until the late holding a hundred to three hundred Smith's Natztral Histoy of the Fishes of I 830s that commercial reelmaking began yards of heavy cotton line and usually Massachzcsetts (lags), which includes a in America on a significant scale.