Steven Mace
06-17-2005, 03:32 PM
Gun museum touts past
Friday, June 17, 2005
By WILLIAM FREEBAIRN
wfreebairn@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - Smith & Wesson took the wraps yesterday off its latest product - a museum that features dozens of models of its revolvers, pistols and other firearms from more than 150 years of the company's history.
The Smith & Wesson Museum was opened in a large room off the production floor at the company's Roosevelt Avenue factory. The museum was opened with the assistance of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, which holds thousands of company documents and more than 1,500 Smith & Wesson firearms.
The museum will be opened to employees in the coming days. Details of its availability to the public and group tours will be announced shortly, officials said.
"This museum is a fine way to honor and preserve our history," said Smith & Wesson chief executive Michael Golden during a ceremony yesterday to mark the opening.
On display are examples of the company's first model, released in the 1850s, as well as prototypes and rare shotguns produced by one of the company's founders. There are an entire case of hand-engraved revolvers and visitors can peek at the company's current engravers working across the hallway.
In another case, the museum shows one of the .44-caliber Magnum revolvers used by Clint Eastwood in the movie "Sudden Impact" featuring his character Dirty Harry. Another Hollywood gun is a pistol used by Don Johnson's character in the television show "Miami Vice."
The collection on display at the in-house museum was chosen from the archives of private collectors as well as the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. The museum was given a large collection of Smith & Wesson artifacts and documents by the company in 1996.
Roy G. Jinks, the official company historian, helped put together the collection that is on display in the new museum. He has donated hundreds of thousands of company documents from his personal collection to the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum.
"Since Springfield is the center of arms manufacturing, we needed to save our manufacturing history and show it to people," he said.
Curator Sandra C. Krein worked for more than a year on the project. She read documents, interviewed workers and sorted through guns to help choose the more representative examples of the gunmakers' art.
The selection includes police revolvers, guns used in the late 1800s out West as well as competitive shooting guns, wartime weapons and modern firearms. "It tells you the story of American history as well as the company," she said.
Many of the historic guns on display at the museum have been in storage at the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum for years. "We've been looking for opportunities to put these guns on display," said Guy McLain, director of the regional museum.
Interested groups can contact the company to arrange a guided tour of the museum. Arrangements are expected to be made to make the museum open on a regular basis for visitors, either a day a week or during some seasonal period, officials said.
Dan I. Mundell of the Smith & Wesson Collectors Association, which has donated money to help preserve the museum archives, said he was thrilled by the opening of the museum.
"It's absolutely fantastic," he said. "It's about time it came back to the plant. This is where it all started."
http://www.masslive.com/living/republican/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1118994379217690.xml&coll=1
Steve Mace
Friday, June 17, 2005
By WILLIAM FREEBAIRN
wfreebairn@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - Smith & Wesson took the wraps yesterday off its latest product - a museum that features dozens of models of its revolvers, pistols and other firearms from more than 150 years of the company's history.
The Smith & Wesson Museum was opened in a large room off the production floor at the company's Roosevelt Avenue factory. The museum was opened with the assistance of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, which holds thousands of company documents and more than 1,500 Smith & Wesson firearms.
The museum will be opened to employees in the coming days. Details of its availability to the public and group tours will be announced shortly, officials said.
"This museum is a fine way to honor and preserve our history," said Smith & Wesson chief executive Michael Golden during a ceremony yesterday to mark the opening.
On display are examples of the company's first model, released in the 1850s, as well as prototypes and rare shotguns produced by one of the company's founders. There are an entire case of hand-engraved revolvers and visitors can peek at the company's current engravers working across the hallway.
In another case, the museum shows one of the .44-caliber Magnum revolvers used by Clint Eastwood in the movie "Sudden Impact" featuring his character Dirty Harry. Another Hollywood gun is a pistol used by Don Johnson's character in the television show "Miami Vice."
The collection on display at the in-house museum was chosen from the archives of private collectors as well as the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. The museum was given a large collection of Smith & Wesson artifacts and documents by the company in 1996.
Roy G. Jinks, the official company historian, helped put together the collection that is on display in the new museum. He has donated hundreds of thousands of company documents from his personal collection to the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum.
"Since Springfield is the center of arms manufacturing, we needed to save our manufacturing history and show it to people," he said.
Curator Sandra C. Krein worked for more than a year on the project. She read documents, interviewed workers and sorted through guns to help choose the more representative examples of the gunmakers' art.
The selection includes police revolvers, guns used in the late 1800s out West as well as competitive shooting guns, wartime weapons and modern firearms. "It tells you the story of American history as well as the company," she said.
Many of the historic guns on display at the museum have been in storage at the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum for years. "We've been looking for opportunities to put these guns on display," said Guy McLain, director of the regional museum.
Interested groups can contact the company to arrange a guided tour of the museum. Arrangements are expected to be made to make the museum open on a regular basis for visitors, either a day a week or during some seasonal period, officials said.
Dan I. Mundell of the Smith & Wesson Collectors Association, which has donated money to help preserve the museum archives, said he was thrilled by the opening of the museum.
"It's absolutely fantastic," he said. "It's about time it came back to the plant. This is where it all started."
http://www.masslive.com/living/republican/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1118994379217690.xml&coll=1
Steve Mace