The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1920-08-15
Club to Give Sympathetic
Hearing to
Fads.
GAME OF RECIPROCITY
Much Valuable Information
Is Passed Between Fellow
Collectors.


compelled to bottle yourself up on
the subject unless you happen to run
across somebody whose hobby is pre-
cisely the same as yours.
In 1911 1t occurred to williamI NJ.
schnitzer, a New York broker. that
while this condition had gone on
since collecting began, there was no
reed for 1t to go on forever. IL also
udcurred to him that n lot of valu-
ahle information was going TO waste
because there was no one TO give IL
to.
Pondering on this line, he per
ceived that II lobbyist were al
lowed TO talk himself out on his hob
by for an evening to other Lobbyists.
they would listen with respect and
interest which only a lobbyist could
give provided that on the next ev-
ening they also would have the same
opportunity.
Birth OF the Hobby"
He broachcd this idea TO other
lobbyists, and found warm receyy-
tlon for II. They had all felt. as he
had, tho waste OF getting so much in
formation and not being able TO, do
anything with it--for the real hob
biest learns and broadens his MIND
as he goes on.
The Hobby club was Immediately
formed. 1t is dinner club, and after
zach dinner one member discourses
a. his hobby. lie illustrates IT, That
is TO say, IL he speaks OF old books.
he brings with him thirty or forty
or them. and when he speaks of this
or that book he passes It around so
that the other members have hc-
InTn ha L Vr4as
ing of.
Here. Of course we speak OF such
or the dinners as are held at club
houses. suppose, however, the hob
ny OF the evening is paintings, and
the dinner is held at the speakers
own home. In that case the speaker
leads his guests through his house
and points out the paintings OF
which he has been speaking
Perhaps the most remarkable
dinner OF this kind was that given at
the home of Prof. Rashford Dean
at Riverside. Professor Deans hobby
Is ancient armor, and the dinner was
gwen In the room where he keeps
his collection. The guests sat sur
rounded by armor. AS he spoke OF
Roman or Persian or Anglo Saxon
armor the guests could turn in their
chairs and look at the very armor
the warrier whose times and Gus
toms he was describing. For no one
can make hobby OF ancient armor
without discovering things in un-
written history and the life of man
kind that he. professor or not would
never have known II he had not
picked on that hobby.
little Known of Defoc.
Take, for instance, Prof william
Il l. - -,
had hardly begun his work before he
discovered that the standard au-
thorities on Defoe had fallen far
short OF making n complete list Of
his writings lie found, to quote his
own words 70 the Hobby club. that
his photography was still in n state
OF chaos" and, he adds, "I had to
choose between Confessing defcnt by
stopping where they had left or
pressing forward into an uncharted
wilderness. Curiousity,' doggedness
and a certain sense of responsibility
rs teacher continually occupied In
emphasizing the need OF minute, ac-
ourate research led me on. and I
have been going these fifteen years" ."
Tho result was his learning so much
about Dcfoe that ne found not mere
ly new photography which he had
flrst intended to write, but a new
biography to be necessary. This Is
real collecting, not mere mechanical
bagginR of speciments in which the
collector has no heart interest.
ot course, there is no discussion Of
ule subject in the sense in which
that word would be used in a peo-
PIES forum, since no one present is
an expert on the subject but the
speaker himself. But there Is an oral
questionnaire.
In this way. then, did Mr.. Schnit-
ger and his associates take the curse
orr the collector Ho can talk to his
hearts content 20 a sympathetic
VIII listen reciprocally and learn
things OF which he never dreamed.
The History OF Sun DiaIs.
what, for instance, did the col
lector OF Shakcspcareana know
about sun dials? He did not know
that even after watches were in
vented George Washington preferroo
the. sun dial and carried It in his
nocket. He never heard, perhaps Of
the dainty little thing, as curiously
made and far moro lovingly than n
He and the collector Of Americana
lnodern watch, which Our fathers.
mot very far back. carried in their
pockets
Hhe and the collector Of Americana
when Mr. Tomlinson tod them Of
the time when tho making Of dials
was part OF the ordinary school
curriculum. A long time ago you
think? Notiso long Robert Burns
said Mr., Tomllnson, giving the club
some information, "ln one OF his let
lers speaks of being sent 10 school
10 study surveying and dialing."
Even today the sun dial has not
lost its use under conditions still
primitive.
Guides, huntsmen," Mr.. Tomlln-
son told the Hobby club "and in
them on timepieces when I'm unin-
some instances the British army use
hahi'ited countries"
Even after watches came into
common use the British navy used
the dial to correct them unU the
fhronometer was invented. All these
things and many others which Mr..
Tomllnson told the Hobby club he
did not know until he began making
fad Of sun dials. That hobby led
him into research OF ancient history
and gave tn Hobby club valuable
information on that subject too.
- a