I’m pretty sure all you collectors know Wes Cowan from 13 years appraising on Antiques Roadshow and six years as a History Detective. Many of you might also know that he was raised in a household filled with Victorian antiques by a mother who liked all things “old” and that he turned his love of “old” into degrees in anthropology and archaeology; eventually teaching and then becoming Curator of Archaeology at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. But what you might not know is that Cowan has always been a collector.

As a child Cowan collected fossils, arrowheads, and china plates; as a young man in college, he collected antique photographs. In fact, if it weren’t for a passion for collecting he might never have become “Wes Cowan, Auctioneer,” let alone a regular on those TV shows. After 15 years of collecting photographs, Cowan had amassed what was, at the time, the best collection of Frank J. Haynes photographs & stereoviews — which he (somewhat painfully) sold to start his business.

When we met Cowan briefly before his Thursday night lecture, part of the Plains Art Museum’s Trash or Treasure event, it was really clear that his passion for collecting isn’t just some front to appease collectors or fans of the shows. Within the first few minutes the talk turned quickly to collecting. Not just asking us what we collect, but making an off-hand comment that he’s been kicking himself for not starting a collection of hotel door key cards earlier. It’s just the sort of comment you’d expect a traveling collector to make.

Once he began his talk, Cowan focused on the appeal of History Detectives. He said that the show “taps into our inherent interests in the history of our country and the history of our families.” His enthusiasm for collecting and understanding of collectors was clear as he talked about how objects hold stories and how collectors should think of themselves as curators. (In my notes I wrote, “It’s like Wes reads my columns!”)

When discussing History Detectives, Cowan winced and ducked from imaginary tossed tomatoes as he told us that none of the stars of the show do the research. He explained that they may suggest objects and stories they run across but it’s the producers who select the objects & then assign them to the show’s researchers. Working in pairs, researchers have six weeks to do the research. From this research, a loose script or story lay-out is created, allowing the History Detective to provide off-the-cuff narration — including the inclusion of new or changing information as it comes in. Each History Detective then has three days to be filmed telling the story, with two days of travel. (With so much travel, it’s no wonder Cowan laments not starting that hotel door key collection earlier.)

Cowan feels honored to be a part of the show, saying, “It’s a privilege to be invited into homes & stories and to go & do what others can’t.” Watching him say it, there’s no doubt of the sincerity of his words.

Antiques Roadshow production has far more of a family atmosphere among the appraisers; not just because he’s been a part of the show for twice as long but because he and the other 75 appraisers work together at each show. And boy do the appraisers work at each show. Even if each city Roadshow visits airs as multiple episodes, it all was taped in one day. That means 75 appraisers work with 7,500 people — each one bringing multiple items — all in one day. None of the appraisers are compensated in any way for participating in Roadshow — flights, food, hotel etc. is all paid for out of each appraiser’s pocket. Each appraiser does it for the fun and exposure. Or I should say for the potential exposure. For while there are 12 million viewers, there is no guarantee that any appraiser will have a taped segment. As appraisers run into great stories, they have to make a pitch about being filmed to producers. If they make a strong enough case, they may get air time; if not, they’ve paid for the trip, done an exhausting day’s work, all for naught.

Well, almost naught…

Appraisers are allowed to set their cards and literature on tables. However, they are absolutely forbidden to solicit business. This includes verbally giving out their contact information. Cowan tells the story of a lady who asked how to contact him. He replied that he couldn’t say, but mentioned where his card could be found. When she stated she was unable to read the print on his card, Cowan told the woman she would need to get her granddaughter to read the card because he was forbidden to read it to her. That’s pretty strict; but just goes to show you how ethical Roadshow is.

As for his “day job” as auctioneer, Cowan says the business has changed a lot. “Farm auctions are no longer lucrative,” he said, and, “Sotheby’s & Christie’s have proven that auctioneering is all about marketing.” And he addressed the impact of the Internet too.

Within 5-7 years, eBay and the like have quickly shown that “rare” is indeed a relative term based on dealer opinion &/or experience. Once “rarely seen” things were shown for the readily available stuff they were, and the prices for low-to-middle end antiques & collectibles dropped drastically. However, the accessibility of the Internet has assisted those searching for scarce items, likely bringing stronger auction sales for high end antiques and art. He also said the accessibility was a good thing, allowing people to find objects, connect with other collectors & collecting groups, as well as research more easily.

On Friday, before the VIP Trash or Treasure dinner, we had yet another opportunity to talk privately with both Wes Cowan and his colleague, Danica M. Farnand, a specialist in American Indian Art. We have lots more to share from those conversations, but for now we’ll leave you with the one question that every collector & watcher of History Detectives wants to know: What are their favorite resources for research?

Farnand first mentioned Google, then added that she most often uses the Burke Museum database, as well as the Smithsonian database, AskArt.com, and Peabody’s database (but added that it was a bit difficult to use). Cowan added ArtFact.com, Prices4Antiques, Ancestry.com, ABE.com, CivilWarData.com, and The Library of Congress’ American Memory Historical Collection to the list. He also said that more and more universities and museums are adding their archives online, so the resources would only be growing.

Skeptical that they were hiding something, like secret databases and clandestine meetings in private libraries off limits to the average collector, we pressed a bit. “On History Detectives you have a lot of access to archives and libraries of organizations… Do average collectors have such access?”

“In my experiences, as a collector, researcher and auctioneer, I’ve found archivists & librarians are always anxious to help,” he said.

“Even if you’re not a History Detective?” we asked.

“It’s not like a librarian’s ever going to tell a researcher to go away,” he added, laughing. Then he leaned in, grinned and conspiratorily added, “But being a History Detective doesn’t hurt!”

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The fun thing about collecting is that you never know where the ‘hunt’ will lead you. This spring, hubby found a group of circus posters at an estate sale. We put them away, thinking we’d do some research on them. We recently pulled them out and one in particular intrigued me. It was the one with Mae Wirth – the World’s Greatest Equestrian. It shows her with a horse and the name of the circus as well. I wondered about May, was she really that great? How does one become a circus star? Was she from the US or elsewhere? When was she popular and was she still alive?

Well, when in doubt “google it.” Wish we had this marvelous vehicle many years ago when I was a child. It is fantastic! In any case, I entered her name and found out a lot of things about this fascinating lady. She was born in 1894 at Bundaberg, Queens (Australia.) She was the daughter of John Edward Zinga, a circus artist and his 2^nd wife, Dezeppo Marie. After her parents separated, May was adopted in 1901, at the tender age of 7, by Mary Elizabeth Victoria Wirth. She was an equestrienne and sister of Philip and George Wirth. She married into this “circus family” – her husband being a circus musician, and they with their daughter Stella toured overseas with Wirth Brothers’ Circus in 1893 until 1900. May’s early start in the circus was in balancing and tumbling, as a tightwire performer and contortionist. She also learned equestrian skills and then was taught how to do somersaults on a bareback horse. At the early age of 10, she was a ‘real trick rider’ and in 1906 was billed as “May Ringling.” She was very pretty and grew to only 4 foot, 11 inches.

Her career continued and she was with John Ringling’s Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1911. She was billed as the “world’s greatest bareback rider.” Little May developed her act by somersaulting backwards through rings and by leaping from the ground to the back of her galloping horse with her feet encased in baskets. Kids – do not try this at home! She was seriously injured in a fall during a performance in 1913, but was able to return to the entertainment world in 1914, this time in vaudeville in England and France.

She returned to circus life in 1915 with the troupe “Royal Wirth Family.” In 1917 they toured with Ringling Brothers and May remained the star equestrienne. In 1919 she married her manager, Frank White, who adopted the professional name of Wirth – they never had any children.

She continued performing in various venues, retiring in 1937, at the peak of her career. Eventually, May moved to Sarasota, Florida where her name was added to the Circus Hall of Fame in 1964. She was predeceased by her husband, and died in 1978 in Sarasota.

Her life was quite fascinating and after learning this I do understand some of the magic of collecting circus and fair-related items. It certainly sounds like an interesting life. There have been numerous books written on circuses and their performers. We do not live very far from Baraboo, Wisconsin and have taken our daughters to see the circus acts and those incredible wagons on several occasions. These were brought down by railway for many years and we all enjoyed watching them in the famous “Circus Parade” in Milwaukee. We are also close enough to go to Delavan, Wisconsin, which was called the “19^th Century Circus Capital of the World.” We’ve seen the sign and “Romeo” the elephant statue but never understood its significance. After checking this out on my-new-best-friend, Google, I learned that it was given that title because “Between 1847-1894 Delavan was home to 26 different circus companies.” The original P.T. Barnum Circus was organized in Delavan in 1871.

So, finding a few old posters led me to all of this information to share with you. We understand that the photographs of ‘circus freaks’ are highly sought after and have gotten very pricey. Considering that we have been collectors for over 35 years, and that we are ’sandwiched’ between several heavy-duty circus colonies, it is pretty amazing that we’ve never found any circus memorabilia. Perhaps all you collectors are keeping it to yourselves. After doing this research, I can understand why!

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Scooby-Doo Collection

About 12 years ago I got a Great Dane puppy. I named him Saltheart Foamfollower after the gentle giant in Stephen R. Donaldson’s books; but he was called “Salty” for short. Like most dog owners in love with their dog’s breed, I began to gobble up Great Dane collectibles. Being the parent of a then-six-year-old, I also had to include Scooby-Doo things. That is how & why I began collecting Scooby-Doo items.

Great Danes, like many giant dog breeds, are called “heart-breakers” because they live very short lives. After just six years, Salty went on to doggy heaven leaving me too heartbroken to get anything else with a Great Dane on it. That is how I stopped buying Scooby-Doo items.

Grandma’s bought the kids Scooby things, but in six years, I’ve not bought anything with another Dane on it. The clothing, all but one denim shirt with Scooby embroidered on the pocket, are all long gone — wash worn, faded, or if the kid out-grew it but it was still in great shape, donated to another child with a love of Scooby-Doo. There’s also one watch which, like the shirt, I still cannot bear to wear. But mostly what remains of my Scooby-Doo collection are the decorative and kitchen items, like the vase, milk jug, soap dispenser, and Wilton cake pan. Sometimes they still are hard for me to see & use. Boy, I miss my dog.

1999 Scooby-Doo Cookie Jar

You might have noticed that the ceramic Scooby-Doo cookie jar is damaged; he’s missing one of his ears. As a collectible he would seem to have little-to-no value, right? But in this case it’s just the opposite. That missing ear is the very reason I love that cookie jar.

As any Dane owner will tell you about the breed, Salty was a gentle giant like his namesake. But, as any pet owner will tell you, Salty also had his own personality. One of this dog’s quirks was that he had a thing — a hatred — for images of Great Danes with cropped ears.

At first it seemed coincidental when he chewed all the upright ears off the rubber Scooby-Doo dog toys. They are the parts which stick off the toy and are easily chewed away, right? But then Salty learned to flip his toys into my other Scooby-Doo collectibles, eventually, after much loss of other ceramic & glass items, developing a remarkable knack for hitting them just right to remove one ear at a time. I have to say, for the record, that the dog never broke anything but Scooby items, and always the cropped ears. As fascinating as his statement on the cropping of dog’s ears was, it became too expensive to keep those anyplace other than in a cupboard or on top of them, way out of sight.

Now, whenever I see the one-eared cookie jar with lolling tongue goofily peering at me from atop the refrigerator, I smile a sad, wistful smile for the dog who left the cookie jar thus. It’s like the dog is still speaking to me through that cookie jar.

While it’s true the cookie jar has no value as a collectible, I’m sure my eldest child will want it. She remembers the day that ear was swiftly removed from the cookie jar; she remembers the sweet, goofy, giant dog who hated cropped ears on Danes.

1997 Scooby-Doo Drinking Glass

I’m still not ready to get another Great Dane — yet. But, enough time has passed, my heart has healed enough to now consider getting more Great Dane and Scooby-Doo items.

I think I’ll need to start by replacing the Scooby-Doo drinking glasses; twelve years of use and washing has left them rather faded and with the image worn-off in spots.

I know they don’t make the same ones anymore — in fact, Scooby’s popularity as defined by availability in merchandise offerings seems to have waned quite a bit since the late 90’s. So I’ll have to really search for them. But it’s time I started being happy looking for those goofy gentle giants again.

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American Library Association Barbara Gordon Batgirl Bookmark

Thinking about Banned Book Week has me thinking not just about the books, authors, publishers & history of banned books, but about the real heroes in this censorship battle: librarians.

Every day librarians are the front line in our battle to be free readers, but they also come to our rescue in other ways… Helping a little kid reach a book; assisting a grown adult in finding the right book or research material; keeping libraries stocked & organized so that we can be delighted, educated, inspired; coaching the unfamiliar on how to use the Internet; reading to children, keeping kids entranced long enough for mommy to find something for herself to read; and even shushing obnoxious jerks so that you can read and research in peace.

Librarians are superheroes, you know.

I’m certainly not the first to think of librarians as superheroes. My recollection is that this all started with Batgirl; I could be wrong, but watch this retro test episode for a possible Batgirl TV series.

In any case, there’s a whole plethora of librarian as superhero images collect. Naturally, the American Library Association uses Batgirl to promote libraries, but other libraries and associations have created their own librarian superhero mascots. Penn State’s Eiche Library recently had a contest to name their official 2008 Open House mascot (Sam Wagner won with The Database Ace, a.k.a. Kat A. Log; signature move - The Eiche Strikee).

The New Jersey State Library not only has Super Librarian, but she has her own comic. In fact, there are many comics in which librarians are featured or even the main character. And you’ll find that many comic artists love to draw superhero librarians. So far, my favorite is Jolly Jack’s sketch titled Overdue. (If you’ve paid the fines I have, you’d certainly fear the stamp!)

If you aren’t quite ready to invest dollars or space in collecting librarian superheroes, why not go for digital renderings? LibrarianDressup.com has an online version of a paper doll you can put in caped crusader costumes and then send as postcards.

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This past Saturday marks the start of one of my personal favorite weeks, Banned Book Week by the ALA.  The Wifey and I are adamant readers and writers, so the act of bringing attention to the ongoing battle between books and ideas is close to our hearts.  Our personal library is no stranger to banned books of all shapes and sizes, from the familiar to the obscure, but I feel it is still missing some components of this heated debate.

It is easy to look at the fight for and against books through the limited view of book burning and banning, but that assumes those opposed to certain books have avoided writing on their own.   In fact, those who challenge books are quite vocal, and putting pen to paper has always been a part of their efforts to limit a book’s reach.  When we think of Wal-Mart buckling to pressure to issue censored CDs, or Walt Disney being flexible with a fairy tale’s original form to make them palatable to modern audiences, we don’t always realize that great literature has experienced the same sort of alteration.    John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath has been a contested book since its inception, but the edition most libraries and schools have is actually a censored version edited by his publisher to remove the most objectionable portions.  Penguin has come around on the book, though, returning to Steinbeck’s original manuscipt for their Viking Critical Library edition of Wrath.  Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, too, experienced a similar pre-screening by his publisher, resulting in the 2003 “Original Uncensored” edition of The Jungle. These editions are more like the Director’s Cut release of a classic movie, edited more for marketability than genuine moral outrage, but editors have stepped in that direction as well.

The practice of re-editing content to remove objectionable parts owes its name to the first prominent practicer of the process.  Thomas Bowdler, a young lad of the 18th century, discovered during his schooling that the Shakespeare he was being taught was unfamiliar, despite having been read Shakespeare as a child by his father.  Bowdler’s parents had adjusted the bawdier and violent parts of Shakespeare’s works for a younger audience, and the younger Bowdler realized that there may be a market for a version more appropriate for families.   The Family Shakespeare first appeared in 1807, but was reprinted for well over a hundred years in numerous editions.  I’ve got numerous various printings of Shakespeare’s plays dating back to the 19th century, but they’re all the same – I really do wish I had a copy of The Family Shakespeare to sit on the shelf as a counterpart to the bard’s original works (although we could get into whether these ‘official’ editions suffered at their publisher’s editing as well).   The Family Shakespeare was a very prominent act of revisionism in literature, advertising it as a selling point, which earned Thomas and his family the honor of a literary term:  bowdlerization is the word for expurgation of offensive content, such as the re-dubbing of the words “darn”, “shucks”, and “fudge” for network television proadcasts of R-rated movies.

Religion is no stranger to this process, either.   Expurgated versions of the Bible have been nearly as common as the splintering of sects, and quite often writted by well-known reformers and progressives.    From the growing women’s right movement in the 19th century came The Woman’s Bible, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a ‘revision committee’ of her equals, who trimmed down the Bible to the barest, adding their own commentary to present a pro-feminist version of the Bible to support women towards their freedom.  New modern translations of the Bible spawned whenever a progressive leader decided their moral direction was limited by the Bible’s contents, from Unitarians to Utopianists to those believing a more approachable edition was needed.  Today we have narrowed down the Bible translations to a small handful, but in the 19th century more than a few new versions appeared.   Noah Webster, concerned about young students’ ability to read and understand the Bible, released his own expurgated version of the Bible.  Webster’s edition was only slightly altered, much containing very little alteration at all, but his edition contained no indication of what was changed, leading to objections from Biblical purists.   Our founding father, Thomas Jefferson, produced his own version of the New Testament, now known as the Jefferson Bible, which eliminated all “magical” aspects of Jesus’ life and limited it to the moral teachings, to present a more Deist view of Biblical teachings in line with Jefferson’s own beliefs.  The enormous variety of Bible contents — despite their divine origin — has made such a wide genre of book collectors that their fans have assembled into the International Society of Bible Collectors.

This adjustment of literature doesn’t attempt to remove any particular work, but hopes to supplant the original offensive work by offering it as an alternative.  Whether a modern Intelligent-Design-promoting textbook, a tame children’s edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, or an Adventures of Huckleberry Finn revised to remove the n-word, these books are evidence of our society’s need to present right and wrong as they see it.   Regardless of how distasteful or warranted, these books need to be included for any book collection to be truly complete.  The Family Shakespeare is a part of Shakespeare History — maybe not as relevant or valuable as a First Folio, but just as necessary to observe how society has included and reacted to Shakespeare during its history.