This is the start of what we hope will be a regular column in
IMA, dealing with readers, engines, farming, museums, magazines and
related matters. If you have suggestions for what should be
included, please send them along.
A telephone call came in recently from Jerry Kitten, of Slaton,
Texas, near Lubbock, whose ‘triple great uncle’ Lorenz
Kitten started the Kitten steam engine business. Jerry is a Kitten
collector who sought copies of articles IMA had published 23 years
ago on the Kitten. We hope to have information from him soon, so
that we can do an article bringing the Kitten story up to date. His
address is RD2, Box 6, Slaton, Texas 79634.
Kitten 24 HP owned by Paul B. Stoltzfoos, of Leola, PA, shown at
Rough and Tumble Historical Engineers Association grounds, Kinzers,
PA. Serial no. 214. Joseph Kitten, son of a Prussian maker of
wooden shoes, established a shop at Ferdinand, Indiana. His first
Kitten was made about 1880; the last one, serial #246, was made in
1940. Information from Wilmer J. Eshleman, R & T member, and
Jim Norbeck, Encyclopedia author.
If you have not sent in your information and ad for our 1982
Steam & Gas Show Directory, do it now. Make sure you include
full addresses and telephone numbers for contact persons. On the
road this summer, we were stymied in trying to make telephone calls
to people who could tell us about associations. We found the
Canandaiga (N.Y.) and East Smithfield (Pa.) meets, and enjoyed our
visits to both.
If you collect and help operate a museum dealing with engines
and other items from days gone by, you will be interested in this
statement from John H. White, Jr., curator of transportation at the
Smithsonian Institution, who was in charge of the project to
operate the John Bull locomotive on its recent 150th
anniversary:
‘To break through barriers that make us see artifacts of the
past as remote, obscure relics: A sensitive observer must come to
understand them as ordinary objects that were once undistinguished
participants in everyday life. Only if we can understand material
culture in this sense can we interpret the past beyond the
antiquarian level.’
In other words, our old engines and all the machinery and
equipment of farming have a story to tell. The way you tell it can
attract and hold not only spectators to attend and enjoy your
events, but also young men and women who will become active
collectors and restorers, swelling the ranks of the organizations.
This quote appeared in American Heritage magazine, Aug.-Sept.
1981.
Did you see a segment on the 1981 show of the Rough and Tumble
Engineers on CBS television? We didn’t, but we were called in
Montana by a researcher for the Charles Kurault production, for
information about threshing and the organizations. The reference
came from Pat Kreider, Rough and Tumble president, the first person
the researcher asked for information. When an event such as that at
Kinzers, Pa., is shown nationally, all shows benefit because people
want to see and know more.
Anna Mae Branyan, who writes her well known column for IMA,
reminds us that the first effort of the Rev. Elmer Ritzman, founder
of Stemgas, was a single sheet in which he asked whether to go
ahead with a magazine. His first regular issue had about 40
subscribers. We may republish articles from the early issues, if
people say they want to see them.
Cliff Magnuson, RR2, Glasford, Ill., 61533, writes in renewing
his subscription:
‘Nice that folks leave the door open to what America was
like from the 1880s to the 1940s when farming was being done in a
cooperative fashion throughout agricultural communities, harvesting
and constructing the buildings. This wonder and neighborly spirit
one may say returns in the form of a reunion for a few days. It is
an enjoyment to the visitors and a delight to the exhibitors who
have cared so well for this early American and Canadian farm
equipment. The steam engine ushered in the mechanical age,
relieving the horse and ox of the grueling and steady work during
the hottest time of the year.’ He signs himself, ‘A Friend
and Neighbor of Clean Air, Water and Soil.’
We asked, ‘Where Are the Engines?’ in our last issue,
and have already received some replies with photos. If you intend
to register your engine with us, do it now.
