Jay K. Jeffries wrote:
Thank
you for your prompt reply. I to agree that important or
historical documents should be duplicated and stored at an alternate,
safe
site. Unfortunately, Jeff doesn’t have a curatorial background, is
severely
underfunded, and now is experiencing ill health with age. He took on
the
burden of keeping the Lake materials after no one in the immediate
family took
interest. The archives are kept in the first floor of his house which
is a
short distance across the road to the Inland Waterway just south of
Melbourne,
FL (hurricane alley lately) and have suffered accordingly. This was my
fear
when first visiting the site in the early 90s. The materials are in
disarray
and not accessioned. It is my impression that he feels that there is
great
financial value in the materials and is rather guarded when discussing
the
matter of others assistance. I will re-evaluate this opinion after my
visit in
late April and let you know.
I have talked with Jeff Lake a few times about organizing his
collection. He was never interested in my input. I am a history
student, and I thought I might combine the MA process with a personal
interest in Simon Lake's work. I have part of my thesis written, on
the construction of Argonaut Junior. I was and am willing to go to
him to organize the collection, but I fear he doesn't trust me.
<>Simon
Lake grew up in South Jersey just outside of Atlantic City
in a town called Pleasantville. It is my belief that a formal museum
could be located
there and would be eligible for funding from the casinos as well as the
State,
and Federal governments due to the area being financially repressed.
There is
a local state college that could provide interns as part of their
history
program. I have considered forming a non-profit corporation to promote
this
idea. Hopefully Jeff can be convinced to support the plan as there is
no one
in his surrounding family interested in maintaining the Lake historical
records.
That's a perfect idea.
<>
<>Jeff
and his sister, Melissa have previously attempted to
develop interest in a Lake documentary but have not been able to come
up with a
great enough “hook” to justify funding.
After Jeff asked for ideas, I wrote a "treatment" for a Disneyesque
Simon Lake movie. Never heard from Jeff about that, after I sent it to
him. I should ask him to send me a copy of it. (All I wanted out of
the movie was "Story By" credit!)
I
have toyed with building 3-D models of the Explorer, Argonaut
and the Argonaut II in Rhino which then could easily be
transformed into
solid models, whether as ½ ship models or of 3-D resin. There are not
many
photographs of the subs and those that are available are of poor
quality. Guessing
that the average man was probably 5 ½ feet in stature at the turn of
the
century, the images could be roughly scaled to develop plans from…these
would just be lacking in detail.
I've sketched out the hull for duplication in plywood. It can be
done. All I need is someone to hold the other end of the sheets.
Anyone near Richmond VA and interested? I have the numbers and the
basic idea worked out in detail.
M
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