Re: (ET) manuals for electracs

["Pieter Litchfield" <plitch attglobal net>]

I am a big fan of the Smithsonian, but I am always afraid that things in a
huge collection like that get "lost" - kind of like the scene of the vast
government warehouse at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Arc."  It would
never occurr to me to call the Smithsonian and ask if they had service
manuals for a tractor, and I doubt many people would think of it either.  I
bet if the Smithsonian did have them, it would be likely that nobody there
would know either.  I believe that some .PDF files archived on one or more
servers on the net would be a much better choice if the intent is to help
keep the world's supply of ETs up and running.  Keeping the literature
accessible is essential to its use.


----- Original Message -----
From: "David Roden (Akron OH USA)" <roden ald net>
To: <elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: (ET) manuals for electracs


> On 18 Mar 2003 at 15:47, Don Barry wrote:
>
> > my choice would be to
> > donate them to the Smithsonian. At least they will be cared for there.
>
> I don't want to suggest that there's imminent danger, but you should know
> that the Smithsonian has experienced some financial restrictions in 
> recent
> years.
>
> When a museum runs out of storage space, it has to make decisions about
> whether the materials in its collection still support its mission.  So 
> you
> can't ever be absolutely, positively sure that any museum will retain
> forever the materials you donate.  In fact more and more curators are
> refusing donations that they don't want to have to decide about.
>
> Again, I don't know for sure that the Smithsonian is anywhere near that
> situation, I'm just pointing out that a museum is not really intended as 
> a
> place to store valuables.
>
>
> David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA
> 1991 Solectria Force 144vac
> 1991 Ford Escort Green/EV 128vdc
> 1970 GE Elec-trak E15 36vdc
> 1974 Avco New Idea 36vdc
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