This brief note is a tribute and "thank you" to an old friend and long rifle publisher par excellence, George Shumway, of York, PA.
1960 was a watershed year for longrifle researchers and enthusiasts. This year saw the publication of two important books that should be in every collector's library, The Pennsylvania-Kentucky Rifle by Henry Kauffman, and Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle in Its Golden Age by Joe Kindig, Jr. This constituted an unprecedented flowering of reliable information on the longrifle.
Since that time, no other man has done more to promulgate solid information on the Kentucky rifle than George Shumway. Dr. Shumway worked first as an oceanographer and then turned his talents toward expanding the knowledge base of the Kentucky rifle. George bought the publication rights to Kindig's book and has seen that copies continue to be made available to us. Since then he has produced a large number of research books, all similar in one respect...quality information. Of these, my favorite is the two-volume set, Rifles of Colonial America.
George was trained as a professional researcher, and he doesn't tend to run with notions, make wild assumptions, or cherry-pick his material to support an opinion. What he writes, he can support.
If you have a good database on Kentuckies, you are likely indebted to him. Thanks, George, for having the vision to see a research need and for filling it with professional class. JWH
