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RE: VDA at 90
Hi Robert,
I can not see why you would say that you are recommending something that you
are not volunteering for.
I have seen the work required to put together a convention. Be it right or
wrong people still go to the convention for the fish show, the awards, the
presentations and the activities. No convention can be done without these.
Selling a large book to the convention revelers which they can read in their
hotel rooms instead of running the usual fish room, show, auction,
collecting trips, awards and lectures might appeal to some people but I
think others might prefer the more traditional approach. The last thing
the convention volunteers need is an additional chore. Assembling, editing
and publishing is something best done by someone without the additional
responsibilities of putting together a convention. You have a great idea! Go
for it! I am sure that everyone will help you.
Start with an outline get the interviews, articles and photos you need and
edit it. I would estimate that the entire project should take less than 2
years if you are fully computerized, given that you most likely would not be
able to work on it full time. If you can draft a few co-editors, you might
be able to save a month or two. If the cost of publishing the book is too
high it could be distributed on disk. I do not believe that your book
would need to be 400 pages long.
Best regards,
~RJ~
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-killietalk at aka_org [mailto:owner-killietalk at aka_org]On
Behalf Of RuevenM at aol_com
Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2001 4:59 PM
To: killietalk at aka_org
Subject: VDA at 90
A fish friend in Germany just sent me a wonderful new book. It is
a 400 + page history of the German aquarium organization of which most of
the
societies in Germany are a member. Imagine The Northeast Council Of Aquarium
Societies here in the USA being expanded into a national organization, add
real scientific work, all kinds of local specialty groups and a beautiful
glossy monthly magazine for all members and you would have the VDA.
Killifish are well represented in this history. Hermann Meinken was
one of the leaders of the VDA from the 30's until the 80's, as were Roloff,
Ahl, Arnold, Foersch, Ladiges and others. The book covers the growth of the
organization, its individuals and the hobby. It reports when many of the
most
common tropicals were first imported and by whom. It shows incredible photos
of early greenhouse breeding establishments and amazing early 20th century
aquarium/plant shows. Its unbelievable that such a book even exists and at
an
amateur level.
It got me wondering why couldn't the AKA do a much smaller version for
its 40th anniversary Convention? Now before everyone jumps down my throat
for
putting out an idea without volunteering to do it, let me just present it.
What if the host club this year, instead of trying to have a bigger and
better fish show and bigger and better awards and spending time giving out
all the meaningless awards the AKA now has, what if they spent real time
making a Convention book on the AKA's history? They could collect historical
photos of people, fish, fishrooms, past conventions, shows, collecting
trips,
programs etc. They could approach charter members to write their memories of
the AKA and killies. The archive and publication committees could provide
past documents that deserve notice. Individuals could provide informative
private letters -- like all of Roloff's, Scheel's, G. S. Myer's, etc
letters.
Great killie articles could be reprinted. The remaining founders of the AKA
could all write their history/memory of the organization -- Klee's is
already
written but I am sure there is alot more. Bruce Turner, Alan Fletcher and
Rosario LaCorte could write about the killie hobby before the AKA was
formed.
This book could be sold at the Convention and then to the membership as a
whole.
To top it off, the host club this year -- and the AKA as a
whole --
could invite the remaining founding members and certain other key
individuals
in the AKA's history to make a great presentation/talk/bull session at this
Convention. Klee, Turner, LaCorte, Haas, Weitzman, Tirbak, Ricco, Langton,
Kallus, Dyer, Hoelter and a few others could form a great program: The AKA
1962-2002.
Just a thought. Might be more interesting than the usual collecting
trip, water chemistry, raising live foods, new descriptions/ichthyology
Convention standard fare.
Robert E.
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