Donating old parachutes and books to which museum?

[riggerrob 643]

My apartment is cluttered with 40 years worth of old parachutes, old manuals, etc.

Which museum should I donate then to?

Last summer I visited the Canadian War Museum and the Aviation museum at Rockcliffe. More recently, I visited the small museum of aviation in Langley, B.C. I used to jump near the aviation museum in Victoria, B.C. (Pat Bay / Victoria International Airport).

Please note that I am a Canadian citizen, living in Canada, who would prefer to donate to a Canadian museum.

[pchapman 279]

Does any museum care about such stuff?  Especially if it isn't military or maybe smoke jumper related. Kind of thinking out loud here.

There are always the collectors of old gear out there of course. Some things get bought and sold on ebay, although some of that wheeling & dealing is more about making a buck than preserving history. Others try to keep gear airworthy or at least preserved for history. As you likely know, 'Beatnik' might have the biggest collection of vintage parachute gear in Canada. I keep my personal collection of vintage gear & magazines fairly small, but still have issues with how much basement space is taken up...

Then there's the idea of putting something online, like scanning old manuals in to rigging manual sites. BUT: Ugh, do any even exist now?  Parachutemanuals.com and the ukskydiver.co.uk sites are both gone. A lot of lost history, although someone in the know could find that stuff on archive.org hopefully.  Or there's someone like Andrew Hilton with a big Flickr site with photos of his vintage gear and accessories, so that at least shares something with other enthusiasts.

So, you got anything interesting?  :-)

[councilman24 37]

On 7/19/2020 at 9:33 PM, pchapman said:

Does any museum care about such stuff?  Especially if it isn't military or maybe smoke jumper related. Kind of thinking out loud here.

There are always the collectors of old gear out there of course. Some things get bought and sold on ebay, although some of that wheeling & dealing is more about making a buck than preserving history. Others try to keep gear airworthy or at least preserved for history. As you likely know, 'Beatnik' might have the biggest collection of vintage parachute gear in Canada. I keep my personal collection of vintage gear & magazines fairly small, but still have issues with how much basement space is taken up...

Then there's the idea of putting something online, like scanning old manuals in to rigging manual sites. BUT: Ugh, do any even exist now?  Parachutemanuals.com and the ukskydiver.co.uk sites are both gone. A lot of lost history, although someone in the know could find that stuff on archive.org hopefully.  Or there's someone like Andrew Hilton with a big Flickr site with photos of his vintage gear and accessories, so that at least shares something with other enthusiasts.

So, you got anything interesting?  :-)

got to have the dash.  But security symbol red lined. Think there is a renewal required for the padlock.

http://www.uk-skydiver.co.uk/cms/

[councilman24 37]

On 7/19/2020 at 7:14 PM, riggerrob said:

My apartment is cluttered with 40 years worth of old parachutes, old manuals, etc.

Which museum should I donate then to?

Last summer I visited the Canadian War Museum and the Aviation museum at Rockcliffe. More recently, I visited the small museum of aviation in Langley, B.C. I used to jump near the aviation museum in Victoria, B.C. (Pat Bay / Victoria International Airport).

Please note that I am a Canadian citizen, living in Canada, who would prefer to donate to a Canadian museum.

There is one very large collection in a US university library.  Can't remember which one.  The best bet might be see which Candian University has large aviation/aerodynamics program and see if the library is interested.  If I could remember the US collection there is a catalog online and the collection is open for public use and research.  Or you could send it to me to add to MY basement collection.;)  Best items? 1928 Irving B1 back emergency rig last packed in 1934 and book entitled Parachuting from 1930 England.  Lots of photos of military display jumps that were pull offs from large biplanes.

 

 

[pchapman 279]

Thanks Councilman. All my old bookmarks say ukskydiver.co.uk -- so they changed their address slightly to uk-skydiver.co.uk.

As for the library, there is the Linda Hall library in Kansas City. Can't recall if there are any others.

"This digital collection is a portion of a more extensive Parachute History Collection, and was developed as a collaborative venture between the Linda Hall Library and the Aerodynamic Deceleration Systems Technical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics."

The old parachuting books are fascinating and contain stuff not in our 'standard' histories of parachuting -- since they were military, or stunt jumper, or 'foreign', or just didn't happen to make it into the sources that everyone then copies. Found a few of the old books to at least photocopy from university libraries.

[skybytch 273]

Same question but in the US.  Parachutist and Skydiving magazines going back to the 1960s. Only missing a few issues. Three plastic bins. Full. 

 

[cosmicgypsy 5]

As to magazines I take mine to the local high school. The librarian seems excited whenever I show up with them.These of course are the newer editions because I don't have a lot of room and am hoping they can be put to some use. Hopefully get a local kid interested in skydiving or parachutes. Heck maybe both or anything in aviation. 

Cosmic