August 2005
Will Shor Memorial Fund Established at The Archives of Falconry

Further, regarding The Memorial: the Minnesota Falconers' Association under the direction of Grant and Michelle Anderson and the Wisconsin Falconers' Associations through the leadership of Club president Tom Doolittle along with Bob Smead and Steve Kaufer collected donations to establish a memorial in recognition of pioneering female falconer and researcher Fran Hamerstrom.  If you would like to add to that fund, especially, if you were one of Fran's "gabboons," (they were not able to contact all of you), you may also wish to participate in honoring her by sending a contribution directly to The Archives in her name.  Similar memorial funds have already been established for Morley Nelson, Dan Cover, Terry Kohler and Minard Stevens.  Additional donations to those funds can be made at any time and, as above, donors’ names will be placed in the Book of Remembrance.

Recognizing that there are other falconers who should also be honored at the Falconers’ Memorial, if you or your club wish to do so please contact either Kent Carnie at 208-362-8256 or John Swift at 520-760-7325.  Virtually all falconers no longer with us qualify--all that is needed is an initial donor or club sponsor to begin the process.

International recognition of The Archives of Falconry is exemplified by the election of founding curator Kent Carnie to a trustee position in the Falconry Heritage Trust established in the United Kingdom in April.  Kent has also been asked to serve on a working group of the International Association of Falconry and Raptor Conservation (IAF) seeking UN recognition of falconry as an “Intangible World Cultural Heritage”.  Such international recognition would be of great benefit in preserving the sport in countries where it is under scrutiny and review.  In connection with that working group Kent attended an international conference in Abu Dhabi this past spring, speaking on the history of falconry in the US and the establishing of the first archival effort (The Archives of Falconry) to preserve the history of our sport.  Certainly, the reputation of the Archives and North American falconry has been further enhanced by NAFA member and archives supporter Frank Bond who serves as a Vice President of the IAF.

The most recent publication in the Archives Heritage series; A Short Discourse of Hawking to the Field by Sir Thomas Sherley is almost out of print; only 2 copies of the Patron's Edition and only 25 of the Subscribers Edition remain.  Do not be left out; order one of these remaining copies NOW!  The Archives will have a set of all three volumes of the Subscriber's Editions with matching numbers in this fall's duplicate book auction.  The book list and bid forms will be mailed to all those who have donated to the Archives.