Hello SAH Members:
This past month I had the pleasure of attending my first NAAM [National Association of Automobile Museums] annual conference, held at America’s Packard Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The four days were filled with engaging presentations as well as fascinating field trips to local transportation-related museums and businesses. Rob Signom III and staff are to be commended for putting on a great week of events. If you ever have the opportunity to attend a NAAM conference I encourage you to do so. A short report on the conference can be found in this newsletter.
This issue of the newsletter also contains the second installment of “Major Sources of Information for Automotive History.” In this three-part series, Mark Vargas provides information on important research resources and offers detailed instructions on how to best access them. This month’s installment focuses on HathiTrust; next month’s issue will include information on Internet Archives. Thank you, Mark for sharing your knowledge of these important resources for all of those conducting automotive research.
Member chapters are a very important component of the SAH. Bob Barr recently attended the spring meeting of the Wisconsin Society of Automotive Historians, a chapter affiliated with the Wisconsin Historical Society and dedicated to the preservation, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge of the history of the automobile in Wisconsin, the United States, and worldwide. A report of the meeting, held at the Wisconsin Automobile Museum, is included in this issue.
Thanks to all who have contributed to the newsletter. Remember that everyone is welcome to submit event announcements or reports, news items of interest, reviews of museums or exhibitions, as well as personal achievements such as a new book, published article, or award. Just send your news to Chris Lezotte or Helen Hutchings by May 25 for the June edition.
Thanks to Helen Hutchings, Mark Vargas, and Bob Barr for their contributions to this issue.