I went by the museum in Springfield, IL and found that it had closed. Dick Church was coming out of the darken building and we had a few minutes to talk. IT WAS CLOSED DUE TO LACK OF FUNDS. An effort was made to get the state societies to give money toward raising $250 thousand dollars to be matched by a doner who had commited to give an additional $250k. he got only $25K donated by five state societies and the fund raising fell short.
I ask him about Corporate donations and he said that he had been unsucessful in even getting to talk to any body from Trimble,ESRI or any other corporation we surveyors buy our producta from.
At one time before we became dependant on single source suppliers we had access to smaller dealers who would show up at our state meeting with a booth and were happy to put some of thier profits back in to support the surveyors.
I know Surveying has fallen on hard times but our profession needs to pull together and try to support the National Museum of Surveying from what I was able to see walking down the dark halls it is something we can be proud to support and do not need to see fold.
Jerry K. Price
Gpsprice@aol.com
I heard this news over the weekend at the TAPS Board of Directors Meeting. I was sad to hear the news. Our Association had pledged a donation.
I was hoping to make it up there one of these days. I guess that is totally out of the question now.
A sad day for our profession.
As a side note: I really enjoyed our phone conversation last year. I was able ot secure a copy of your book. Someone had taken it, and had it bound into a hardback copy. I have not had a chance to sit down and read very much in it, but I am looking forward to it. I hope to meet you in person one day.
Jimmy,
I sent Tommy Young an Email in December and ask if he could get some of the surveyors together before Spring to go up to Lauderdale County and try to recover the Concrete Monument at Key Corner. I have a history of the monument and it is silted over. It is not too far off the road. I have taken some GPS positions and calculated where it might be located. The picture of the monument it was a 5x5 ft monument with a brass marker. The brass is missing but the concrete is still there. I have the locating equipment to use to find it.
I am going to contact Trimble and see if they will give a donation to keep the Museum open.Jack Calvin is a rep for Trimble and I saved his butt in Somolia a few years ago I think he owes us a favor.
Larry gave a class at Dyersburg State last year about the surveying history of West Tennessee and they got into a big conversation about the Key Corner. That's on our list to do, as soon as we all get motivated enough to go over there.
Tommy,
Give me a call when you guys decide to make the trek. That is not too far from my office.
Jimmy
It's Bob Church (FYI) and I believe it's pretty deeply in the red.....
This is disappointing. Our chapter made a small donation a few years back
I wonder about the business plan that projected $250K from state societies? $5K from each State! That doesn't sound realistic, at least from MA. We've been broke for sometime! Also, I don't recall getting any notice about a matching contribution. That might have helped generate interest.
Is it a done deal? Closing, that is.
