It is very encouraging to hear such enthusiasm. I am not sure who
would ever read a compiled history of the farrier profession, but a place to
start would be just to do***ent what happened in each of the past 30 years,
sort of picking up where Henry Heymering left off in his book, and flesh it
out more.
Here's a plan: people volunteer to each research the history of farriers in
North America in a given year or years. (Warning: 1988 is still smoking
whenever I open my AFA file drawers.) You claim a year and you run with it. I have all the AFJs, Anvils, Hoofcare & Lamenesses, AFA newsletters (some of which are really interesting to read, in hindsight), Professional Farriers, AFA convention programs, AFA membership directories, BWFA stuff, etc. here and people are welcome to come and peruse them. There are people like Jack Seyffer all over the country who have similar collections, but they
probably are very careful about loaning things out. Likewise, some
libraries, particularly Cornell vet school, have lots of the farrier magazines and that's a start to track down the people who were writing articles and doing things in a given year.
Here's how a citizen journalism project like this might work:
Each person researches his or her year and creates a binder with a timeline
and photocopied clippings from things that happened that year that affected
farriers (the Horse Protection Act, the Hoof Bond-Bruce Daniels battles,
Edward Martin's historic speech at Valley Forge, the murder of Jim Linzy,
the AFA Convention on the Today Show, etc.). That person also hopefully
would write a narrative summary of that year and interview key people on
what they remember. You could even do podcasts as part of it, it would be great.
If you have seen the Ferrie Brothers' DVD with the interviews with Edward
Martin and David Wilson etc. you'll be inspired to get a digital tape
recorder (or digital video) and jump into this project.
The first five years (before Henry started AFJ) would almost have to be
written by Walt Taylor, or someone could interview him. The first AFJs were in 1976, if I remember correctly.
Then we all bring our binders to Albuquerque (or wherever) and hopefully fill in the
blanks there, or at least see how much information we gathered and where we
each need help. It might take a couple of years, but we could each also get
photos, videos, audio tapes, and memorabilia from those years. Each of us
would become a custodian for that year and keep tracking down things and
people. Maybe each year's custodian would become a chapter author or editor
in the book on recent farrier history that Gary has suggested, although I
guess the natural extension would be to create a wiki online and have it be
a dynamic web-based project so that it lives forever, though a book you can
hold in your hands is still a nice thing to have and read.
Then, eventually, we find a secure library to accept these binders and some
artifact cases into archival, climate-controlled storage where they can be
accessed by researchers and curious people under the rules of that library,
but not be lost or pilfered.
Of course the politics are of high interest, but I don't know how a fair and
balanced account of the battles and scandals could be written, other than
what is a matter of record in the AFA president's letters. I think the
bigger story is how much the profession has changed, don't you?
I think it would be really valuable to help people look at the facts and
ponder if the AFA had a major influence in the industry or if the industry's
growth and prosperity carried the AFA on the crest of a wave.
When I opened one of the file drawers, I found Bruce Daniels' president's
letter saying that 1400 people attended the AFA convention in Lexington, KY
in 1988. Was that the biggest one ever? Interesting that politics were so
bad that year, yet so many people showed up for the convention. The AFA
only had 1700 members at the time, but 1400 people were at the convention. _Everyone_ was there.
Also I came across the famous strategic plan of 1989, which acting-president
Allen Smith (he took over when Bruce Daniels resigned) sent to every single
member of the AFA. It says it was written by Walt Taylor and edited by
Allen. No mention of licensing, but it has a section on how the AFA should
determine the curriculum of farrier schools and credentials of instructors,
even with disciplinary action mentioned. That was chilling to read, in light
of 2005 events. The AFA has accomplished most of the things it said it would
in that plan, school regulation notwithstanding, but I am not sure it was
ever officially adopted. (I think Dick Fanguy may have mentioned it in his
comments but I can't remember what he said about its adoption, or if it is
even the same strategic plan.)
Any volunteers? Some of you could pick the year you were born!
Fran Jurga