Lyle recalls a time when they had so much paper piled up they needed a novel way to get rid of it. He found out about a local fire department that was going to torch a rural house as part of a training exercise. Lyle got permission to haul hundreds of duplicate manuals, brochures and other items to the site. “We filled the bottom floor of the house with machinery manuals,” Lyle says.
News travels fast in rural communities, and the B&S boys are well-known as literature collectors. Soon, a man breathlessly reported to them that there was an old house just out of town that the fire department was going to burn down, and the bottom floor was just covered with manuals. If they got out there quick, they could load up all the manuals they wanted. “There's really a lot of them,” he said. Of course Lyle had to inform him that they were his and he was trying to get rid of the pile of items.
Perhaps the toughest part of the hobby is the education. Jim says he's learned a lot from his mistakes. “That's how you learn the most. Years ago, at times, I figured I got a heck of a deal on some literature, only to find out most of it was reproduction stuff. I figure I've pretty much made every mistake you can possibly make, but in the long run it's paid off, because now I know what's reproduction stuff and what isn't.” Some reproductions are easy to identify, he says, like the dated items from the John Deere Two-Cylinder Club, and materials for the Ford 8N and 9N made in California. Those items clearly state the literature is reproduced under license from Ford Motor Co.
Different strokes for different folks
His collection includes a circa-1912 De Laval Local Agency cream separator sign off a building in North Dakota, and an unusual International Trucks blackboard sign, probably used in a shop to announce specials on oil filters, or to schedule the day's work.
Finding signs has become more and more difficult, Jim says. But if you have a couple of small farm signs on your table at a show, he adds, people will bring theirs in and ask if you're interested in buying them. “Just last night, matter of fact, I got a call from a guy who has an old two-sided Oliver sign from the early 1950s that I need to go look at. People come to us just from the exposure you get from going to shows, and through word-of-mouth.”
The Swensons also deal in calendars, which they find at farm auctions. Collectible calendars give historical context and information about farm machinery and manufacturers. Many provide information on complete lines for a given year. “The 1950 Minneapolis-Moline calendar we have is interesting because when you open it up,” Jim notes, “there's a foldout that contains the different Minneapolis-Moline machinery in it.”
People in different areas of the country are interested in different brands and types of literature, manuals and memorabilia, Jim says. “Like Case in North Dakota and Montana. Some places are real strongholds for Allis-Chalmers, and of course if a show is a brand show, you have lots of interest in that particular brand.” John Deere and International Harvester items are in demand all over, but the IH items are the most popular of all, Jim says, perhaps because there aren't many John Deere pieces around anymore. “That stuff has been pretty well picked up.”
Jim has noticed a difference in the people looking for farm literature and memorabilia at farm toy shows versus those at threshing bees. “At farm toy shows, it's not the memorabilia collector, but rather the person who sees an item on our table and says, ‘Dad used to have one of those,' or who wants sales literature for a John Deere 560 tractor to put on the shelf behind his toy tractor.” At threshing bees, he says, buyers are more likely to be active collectors.
Ten thousand and growing
Jim says he and his dad have about 10,000 pieces of farm literature, manuals, calendars, farm memorabilia and other farm-related items in their collection. But he's just guessing: The collection hasn't been catalogued, and at this point, won't be. “It would take too much time to draw it up,” Jim says. “It's an out-of-control hobby, and if it ever gets to the point where you have to treat it as a full-time job, it's time to quit. I enjoy it as a hobby. I don't want to do it for a living. My dad and I really enjoy the people and traveling around the Midwest. We've had a lot of fun finding the stuff.” In fact, Jim says he still gets a rush out of finding something new and different. “If I go to a show and see some stuff on a table, or have somebody walk up to me with some stuff, it just makes me shake.”