Memorial

I love it when some small, seemingly innocuous, object I’ve collected reminds me that it’s not just “mine,” that it belongs to a much larger story. Sometimes I know that Big Picture story, other times I don’t; here’s a case that illustrates the latter.

TWA Convair 880 In-Flight Card

Recently, Rollie Puterbaugh contacted me, through the Collectors’ Quest Community, about adding scans of one of my travel and tourism ephemera items to his website. The specific item he was interested in was the laminated in-flight instruction card for TWA’s Convair 880 jet and he wanted to add the image to his project, the Flight 383 & 128 Memorial Project.

I’d never made the connection between that plastic-covered in-flight card and the tragic crash, but once I did, I was only too happy to have “my” card become part of those stories — especially as the stories are not only historical research and collection of artifacts, but the stories of the people involved in the tragic events, and the project works to create a physical memorial. So I asked Rollie to share some more information about the project and his involvement.

Tell us how you became involved in the memorial project.

In 2005, I gathered my previous research about the accident and began the process of locating the property and property owner where the Boeing 727 had hit the hillside. After “finding” and then gaining access to the property in 2005, I hiked up to the site of the November 8, 1965 crash site of AA Flight 383.

AA Flight 383, November 8, 1965 (Photo Courtesty of Kenton County Kentucky Public Library)

After posting the information on the internet, I was stunned by the inquiries I would receive in the following years from family members of victims and witnesses. I realized that the accident was not well documented because of the number of hits and comments I was receiving on the FOTKI site.

In January 2009, I decided to expand my research and scope on the story of Flight 383. The angle I decided on was the life changing effect this event had on hundreds of people; victims, families, witnesses, and first responders, so I began documenting and gathering data on all these groups. Somehow I gained credibility in Hebron, Kentucky where these accidents occurred and the next thing I knew, I was involved in writing the story of two disasters and attempting to place two memorials in the area to honor the participants of both Flights AA 383 and TWA 128.

TWA Flight 128, November 20, 1967 (Photo Courtesty of Kenton County Kentucky Public Library)

Today, I am active with the Flight 383/128 Memorial Group of Hebron, Kentucky in historic research and the pursuit of a memorial to honor all those who were impacted by the Cincinnati aviation events of the 1960’s.

Mark Free, Harvey Pelley, and Linda Holbrook, Members of the Flight 383/128 Memorial Project

Please understand that at this point the project is a gigantic team effort from people all over the country, including Mark Free (Witness TWA Flight 128), Harvey Pelley (First Responder Flights 383/128), and Linda Holbrook (Telephone operator the night of November 20,1967), who are contributing their stories, images, or time to the effort. It is no longer a one man project…

The members of Flight 383/128 Memorial Group do not want future generations to see just statistics about these calamities and forget the people and events that played out in the “Hills of Hebron” on the nights of November 8,1965 and November 20, 1967. All of them had “stories” that were lost on those fateful Monday nights.

Bruce Hart, Decca Records Employee, Victim of AA Flight 383, Photo Courtesy of Dorian Hart-Cochrane

Are there other parts of the story the group is looking for?

People can help simply by contacting us if they had relatives onboard these flights or have any other information about the disasters, including, as in your case, owning items directly related to American Airlines or TWA in the 1960’s {specifically the Boeing 727 and Convair 880 aircraft}.

I am looking for a TWA Sytem TimeTable for the Fall of 1967 and an American Airlines System TimeTable for the Fall of 1965. I am also looking for a Kentucky roadmap from the 1960’s. I am interested in posting the covers and the pages showing the Flight schedule for the flights involved in the air disasters in the Cincinnati area during this period. I would also be interested in purchasing these items if someone was interested in selling them.

If you have personal stories, information and/or items you think Rollie and the Flight 383 & 128 Memorial Project might be interested in, you can message him via his profile in the Collectors’ Quest Community or email him at rollie13@msn.com.

If you’re interesting in the memorial project, you can keep up via the group’s newsletters — and you can support the group with donations. Contributions for a memorial in Hebron, Kentucky to American Airlines Flight 383 and TWA Flight 128 can be made by visiting any local branch of the Bank of Kentucky or by mailing a check made payable to “Flight 383/128 Memorial Project” and mailed to:

The Bank of Kentucky, Inc.
Attention: Joy Wilson
1065 Burlington Pike
Florence Ky 41042

Joy’s phone number is: 859-372-5176.

In 2006, the entire toy community was struck by the sudden death of Diane Kamahele, a woman that many of us knew through her role within Sideshow Collectibles. I’d met her at my first Toy Fair in 2002 or 2003, and despite my friend and I being nervous, completely unskilled and having the wrong press badges, she welcomed us into the Sideshow Collectibles mini-showroom warmly.

This was our first stop at our first Toy Fair, and technically, we’d been turned away from getting passes a month earlier, but we were treated like the most important people in the room. From there, my friend and I made careers out of writing and pop collectibles. She recognized us on subsequent Toy Fair visits, and made the whole experience something worth looking forward to.

We were not alone in this sentiment, so when Diane left behind three children and her husband, Sideshow Collectibles began to orchestrate an annual auction to benefit her surviving relatives. I don’t want to sound ghoulish in calling it ’something to look forward to’, but it’s unfailingly a showcase of excellent experimental pieces by the finest pop collectibles company in the US. They offer works that are prototypes, differing significantly from the final production items, or things that never made it all of the way to production for various reasons. This year’s five offerings are no exception. It’s an excellent opportunity for collectors of unique items to get their hands on amazing stuff, and give back to an excellent cause.

If I had to place a bet, I’d venture that this year’s Psylocke Comiquette will bring in the most bids. Sideshow has recently been producing an excellent variety of incredibly sexy multimedia statues of Marvel Comics’ leading ladies, from the White Queen, to Black Cat, Scarlet Witch, and any other female character of questionable buxomness. Yes, I have a couple of the statues. Psylocke, however, is unique because Sideshow sculpted and painted the prototype before deciding to not produce it at all, making this the only Psylocke in existence, and an excellent companion piece to the other X-Men chicks.

Marvel collectors can also snag a Red Hulk prototype Legendary Scale Bust. The item in question is a professionally repainted version of Sideshow’s regular Hulk bust, as realized before they decided to resculpt different aspects of it. It’s a subtle variation on the existing products, but it’s an exciting glimpse into the process. Sideshow’s Legendary Scale Busts are a great collection by themselves – I’m guilty of owning a Dr. Doom, Iron Man, The Thing, Ghost Rider, Apocalypse and a forthcoming Galactus (while quietly pining for Thor and Captain America). They’re really the ultimate collection centerpiece, as the exclusive versions even come with super-fancy nameplates that work with an entire display of character paraphernalia.

In Sideshow terms, ‘Legendary Scale’ is about 1:2, or half the size of a normal human torso. Which is freakin’ huge. Also offered in the current wave of auctions is a prototype of the Star Wars Commander Cody Legendary Scale Bust. The final version has some slightly different sculptural details and a very different paint job. The original piece sells for $300, but the prototype will finish out at a price at least twice that. You can see that the colors on the final version are darker, and that the visor is shaped a little differently, among other differences.

Movie buffs will be thrilled with the prototype Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th Part III. Sideshow has only offered one Premium Format Jason before, and he came in his ‘Freddy Vs. Jason’ duds – far less classic than this sampling of his original attire. There are a ton of Jason collectibles out there, and all of them in different scales or subtle costume variations from between the different films, so this is a completely unique opportunity to score a F13: III Jason in 1/4th scale.

And finally, we need the Premium Format T-700 from Terminator, a creepy robot no matter what version it’s in. This prototype version was made early on, before full reference materials were available to the sculptors at Sideshow, so the final version had additional tooling and a lighter finish. There’s something really menacing about this dark, flat finish that might not be screen-accurate, but has a ton of aesthetic appeal anyhow.

My heart’s with the Marvel stuff, so I hope that it all goes to a great home – especially for such a great purpose. It’s nice to see people dipping into their pockets, even during these economically wacky times.

Holocaust Remembrance Day is a day for remembering the victims of the Holocaust and for reminding Americans of what can happen to people when bigotry, hatred and indifference reign.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Council was created by act of Congress in 1980 and leads the nation in civic commemorations as well as encourages appropriate Remembrance observances throughout the country. For weeks many local museums and temples have been preparing for special events, including the display of Holocaust memorabilia. Through screenings, special exhibits and dedications of permanent shrines, they seek to remind and warn.

When it comes to collecting the physical history of the Holocaust many are torn about it, especially the horrific images and Nazi items. As with Black Americana many feel the collecting such items is a perverse action (in some cases driving people to buy things just to destroy them), and this controversy has made many places, like eBay, forbid the sales of Nazi items. But there are other dealers who specialize in Judaica including Holocaust artifacts. These dealers and collectors, as well as historians feel there is more to collecting such items than meets the horror-filled eye.

“Why do some Jews collect Holocaust material?” asked Wyatt Houston Day of the Swann Galleries in Manhattan, who organizes an annual auction of African-Americana. “Any people who endure a Holocaust tend to collect, out of a lest-we-forget impulse. It is very much akin to what happened to blacks, and the objects are just as vile.”

While many survivors and their families collect Holocaust items, there are many others who also do in order to preserve history. And there are also many Jewish people who do so as part of their heritage and faith — feeling compelled to preserve the items and become transformed in this shrine to ‘The Great Sacrifice.’

In his book ‘Selling Hitler’ – which deals with the events surrounding the Hitler diary forgeries – the author, Robert Harris, writes: ‘It has been estimated that there are 50,000 collectors of Nazi memorabilia throughout the world, of whom most are Americans, involved in a business which is said to have an annual turnover of $50-million. Prices increase 20 percent a year… In the States, according to Charles Hamilton (a leading dealer), ‘the collectors of Hitler memorabilia are 40 percent Jewish, 50 percent old soldiers, and 10 percent of them are young….’

Nazi items are part of the story of what has happened and as such fit into collection in context. In this sense collecting Nazi items is not to resurrect any such ideals; in fact, it is to the contray serving to remind us that as shocking as this all is, this was done by humans to other humans.

Like most items of historical value, personal collectors are often asked to donate their own collections to museums or temple collections where they can be shown to the public as well as to make sure they are properly cared for. As collectors age they or their families are encouraged to contact credible organizations to donate these items, preserving them for future generations.

Another important part of the story are the personal stories of survivors.

One of the programs the United States Holocaust Memorial Council offers is the The Memory Project (based on the “Leave-A-Legacy” Writing Workshops developed by the Drew University Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study). The Memory Project offers writing workshops to help Holocaust survivors create a record, for their family members and the historical archives, of their experiences and memories. If you know a survivor, please urge them today to add their personal story to the larger story. It’s important for all of us.

Related Links:

Holocaust-Era Assets

I Survived

I remember browsing through an antique jewelry dealer’s shop as a preteen and noticing a large display of Victorian era black jewelry. There were brooches, rings and earrings, all featuring black stones. I remarked that they must have liked black a lot in the “olden days” and the shopkeeper informed me that it was mourning jewelry, worn when a loved one died.

The wearing of mourning, or memorial, jewelry began in England in the 16^th century. Before long it was common for mourning rings to be distributed at a funeral in memory of the deceased. Skulls and skeletons were popular designs for mourning jewelry for many years, and were often worn as a memento mori: a symbol of one’s own mortality. Eventually these designs lost popularity and were rarely seen after the 1760s.

It was about that time that a more sentimental form of mourning jewelry came into fashion. Scenes of urns, tombs, weeping willows and grieving maidens were depicted, usually in paint or enamel. Human hair was often worked into the scene, perhaps as the branches of the weeping willow. These scenes of grief appeared on brooches, rings and pendants. The scene was often set in a frame of engraved gold, gemstones or seed pearls, symbolizing tears. The name of the deceased and date of death were often on the piece, making it easy for the collector to date the jewelry.

As the nineteenth century wore on, jet became fashionable in mourning jewelry. It grew in favor after the death of Britain’s King George IV and was Queen Victoria’s adornment of choice following the death of her husband, Prince Albert. The Queen was in mourning for forty years, and during that time the court wore black with black jewelry. Hence, black mourning jewelry gained popularity among the populace and black jewelry was even worn by people who weren’t mourning.

Jet is fossilized coal and is easily carved. Mid-nineteenth century jet jewelry was often carved into medallions, serpent bracelets, rings, flowers and crosses, while the styles of the late nineteenth century were much more plain. Imitations such as “French Jet” (black glass) were sometimes used and it can be difficult to tell true jet apart from these. Jet was one of the most common materials used in jewelry by the end of the nineteenth century, and onyx was also frequently used.