Reading Public Museum- Kindig Exhibit

[Steve Collward]

The Reading Public Museum will be displaying approximately 50 longrifles from the Kindig collection. Exhibit starts May 24 through Sept. 1, 2014

http://www.readingpublicmuseum.org/museum/exhibits/exhibitions/longrifles.php

[WKevinD]

Steve,
If your going down let me know and we can team up on a ride.
Kevin D.

[bama]

I think I will go see this display after the KRA show. it would be a nice way to finish up a great weekend. Plus the wife wants to by Hershey to take the tour, should be a fun side trip. what could be better, chocolate and long rifles!

[okawbow]

Maybe off topic, but, looking at the picture in the link, in the first post.....the patchbox does not perfectly match the butplate curve. It also looks a little big for the butt stock. Could that be a re-stock? Other posts lately have used similar reasons for thinking a rifle had been restocked.

[Buck]

okabow,
No the box is correct to the rifle. The maker is George Schroyer.
Buck

[A.Merrill]

    Where do I buy the book??   AL

[A.Merrill]

       Found it.....lol

[ehoff]

I took a trip down with the family on Saturday to see the exhibit. It was a very nice display of mostly golden age long rifles from PA, MD, VA. Most of  rifles are hung on racks and not behind glass so you can get a good view of them a few are hung on the walls so you only see one side. The only down side to the exhibit is that there is no photography allowed in the exhibit, and they don't have any sort of book with photos of all the rifles. My suggestion is to bring your sketch pad to make notes and drawings.

The museum is family friendly for those of us with children the have stuff to keep them busy too.

[Bob Mac]

My wife and I were there on Saturday also. Might have been in the exhibit at the same time. I agree, it is a very nice showing. The displays do allow much closer looks at various aspects of most of the rifle. I think I saw that there is a book to accompany the display. I thought I would be able to pick it up at the Museum, but couldn't find it anywhere. Somewhere in another post, there is an email address to get an order form. Just haven't gotten to it yet.
Bob

[Karl Kunkel]

Eastwind,

Can you advise on the status of the exhibit book?

Here's Patrick's post:

The catalog/book for MASTERPIECES OF THE AMERICAN LONGRIFLE - The Joe Kindig, Jr. Collection written by Joe Kindig III and I will be available for sale May 24th. at the Reading Public Museum Exhibit and through Eastwind Publishing, 4302 Baildon Road, Trappe, MD 21673. By mail from Eastwind - the cost is $70.00 + $5.00 shipping (Media Mail).

The book is 160+ pages---62 long rifles - all in color, with many not seen before. Never before told is an opening Chapter on Joe Kindig, Jr., including childhood photos, the old gun room, various high end antiques/arms now in museums, contemporary associates such as Israel Sack, Henry Kauffman and Sam Dyke... and even one photo without his legendary beard.

Hope you all can get to the exhibit before closing in September.

If you want an order blank for the book just email me at eastwind@wildblue. net

Patrick Hornberger
Eastwind Publishing
410-476-4445
eastwind@wildblue.net

[Mike R]

According to info I got from the publisher over the phone the other day, book shipment is delayed until sometime in September!!!

[Mark Elliott]

If you go to this exhibit, and you should; make sure to bring a good llittle LED flashlight for examining the guns.   They are not well lit at all and you need a good bright flashlight to see all the great details.   I saw carving and engraving on those guns of a type I had never seen before.   There was a lot of creativity on display; more than I thought existed in PA gunmakers.   

There were a lot of great guns on display, but my favorite, as it usually is,  was the Issac Haines.    His guns always look as good as the best contemporary longrifles.   Instead of the usual raised moulding around the lock panels,  he used lines of chip carving.   The only thing I had ever seen slightly similar to it was on the Brass Barreled Rife.

I hope the catalog is available soon, but who knows.    I talked to one of the gun owners at the exhibit and he said they were having problems with the photographs and that is what has delayed the publication of the catalog. 

[Shreckmeister]

The exhibit was great. The philadelphia marked Kuntz rifle is unbelievable. My only disappointment was that during my 2 hours there no other serious gun enthusiast came into the room.   You seriously need a good flashlight. The michael edwards rifle was also amazing

[mark esterly]

  some very nice rifles indeed but you should not need to carry a flashlight to a public museum. they should have been in better light! I have to wonder why all the other exhibits were so well lit but this one was so dim and photography was prohibited. a few of the favorites were all the way on top and you couldn't see them well at all. very disappointing.

[mr. no gold]

When I visited the exhibit last June, the museum furnished small penlights. I had carried a bright light in with me, but was quickly told that I could not use it. They seemed to indicate that the cumulative effects of today's modern tech lighting might produce changes in the color, (or what?) of the rifles. They also indicated that the display was done to the Kindig family wishes and museum specifications. So, that was the situation then; sounds like it hasn't changed much. Am I complaining? Not even!!! What a grand opportunity to see pieces that we all know and love in Joe's book. And, they are all in the exhibit, but I really did not see too much that was new to me. So, my children, go and ENJOY! You won't regret it.
Dick

[tallbear]

The firearms in most of these displays are mostly privately owned and the owners set the terms of the display.Most prefer they not be photographed with out their consent for legitimate reasons.The opportunity the view these treasures far out way any inconveniences we may experience.Having spent many days in the Reading and Landis museums with my sketchbook in hand I am very grateful for the opportunity.

Mitch Yates

[mr. no gold]

Mitch, for whatever hearsay is worth, I heard at the KRA meeting that neither the Kindigs nor the exhibit director were overly happy with the subdued lighting and the staging of some of the rifles. I took the opportunity to speak with the museum curator on the occasion of my visit, and he stated that they were following the NAM and NPS guidelines and standards of display. Well and good. Aside from exceptions I have noted earlier, I found the staging of the pieces to be exceptional. If anything, there is a generosity of space between the rifles and that accounts in part for the guns arrayed at the very top of the stands. The latter are quite well made of clear lucite, and they allow an open examination of each rifle. The 'open display' stands in some contast to the KRF display at the NRA Museum in that the pieces in the latter are quite well illuminated, but they are somewhat crowded in the cases. They are also behind glass. Nevermind the limitations on either display; everyone who builds, collects, or likes American history should take the opportunity to see both and if possible within a few days of each other.
The Reading Museum also has three nice rifles in their own collections and these are on display on the floor below the Kindig exhibit. They are representative of three of the top early makers in Berks County, including John Bonawitz.

[Shreckmeister]

Yes, other than the light I thought the displays were excellent.  Someone went to a lot of expense to
make those Lucite displays for us.  Usually things like this are behind glass or a velvet rope and you
can't get close.  I will able to get my eye as close as I wanted to nearly every rifle and I found the
penlights adequate.  Certainly better than the NRA museum and others.  Best $10 I ever spent.
I think they will miss out on a lot of book sales for not having them ready.  I wonder if the photography
will be as good as the Hansen book?  That was impressive.

[mr. no gold]

Rob, the museum curator told me that the lucite stands cost something in the $20K ea. vicinity. We think of plastic as being cheap and many types are, but it can run in the other direction as well. Great to see you at P'burgh!
Dick

[Shreckmeister]

Great to chat with you as well.  Although the Lucite stands were very attractive, they could have
been made of any other material and it would not have hindered your ability to see the guns because although they are clear, you cannot actually look at the gun through them without distortion, so nobody really looked through them at the guns.  But they did look great. 
    The dower trunks and fraktur were well worth the visit also.  The Frank Lloyd Wright chair displays
were a bonus too, but my favorite chair maker Maloof was not represented?

[EricEwing]

I enjoyed this exhibit tremendously.  I especially loved seeing the chest that was displayed. I've seen old black and white pictures of it and many renderings of the images on it in various books, but I've never got a chance to see it up close and study it.  I've never spent hours in one museum room in my life before.
I've also never been exposed to so many original guns at once before. It was a great way for someone like me to learn a lot about different makers and regional styles and long rifle architecture in way other than books or in crowded public settings pressed for time and space.  I loved seeing all the different embellishments and engravings in person too.  It would've been great to be able to take pictures but sketching them has the effect of burning them in your memory, and you have to pick and choose what's worth sketching for you too, so that has an advantage to it in a way.

Despite the lighting, which was not ideal, I think the curators did an excellent job tying in the rifles and furniture etc. with the roots and blend of cultures and style that produced them.

[B.Habermehl]

I was just there yesterday, what a exhibit. Just my luck the rifle I was most interested in was hanging on the wall so I could only examine one side. Fortunately it is a published gun in shumway's book. It sure was neat to examine the wrist carving. Awesome exhibit. It was so neat to be able to examine both sides of most of the displayed guns. Looking forward to the books availability.  I strongly suggest that if you are on the fence about going to the exibit , GO you will not regret it. BJH

[valongrifles]

I was there this last Tuesday past.A great display. Several were displayed too high for comfort;probably 7 feet up. Great to see in person what I had seen previously only in photos. NRA display is next!! Will be on disabled list for several weeks, so I will try to enjoy that one also; and a whole lot more. Will get my better half to drop me off while she goes shopping.

[Karl Kunkel]

I was there Saturday, met BJH.  I agree the top rack position rifles are hard to see. Of course my favorite Beck there was on the top rack.

As BJ said don't wait to see this exhibit.  Can't wait for the book to come out.

If you bring your better half along, take her for a walk in the park that runs along the creek by the museum.

[acorn20]

After visiting the Daniel Boone homestead yesterday with 10 year old Landon, we made the short trip into Reading and proceeded South down Museum Street only to find the police and ambulance tending to a major accident in the museum entrance.  I proceeded to the next intersection and had decided to do some urban four-wheeling to get into the parking lot but that wasn't necessary.  There was an entrance on that street also just beyond the museum.

As we approached the exhibit hall, a guard was standing over a man and woman watching her delete the photographs, she had taken, from her camera. She said she didn't see the sign but she was standing right behind it.  The sign was placed in the middle of the opening to the exhibit.  I guess she could have missed seeing it because I was focused on the rifles as I went through the doorway and didn't see the sign about penlights being available at the reception desk.  I had taken along a small, two bulb led penlight along with the hopes of using it to view the longrifles.  The detail used on the two matchlocks in the lucite case was simply unbelievable.  That's all I got to see with it as the same guard told me that I'd have to use their penlight since mine cast too much light.  Say what?  It was apparent that someone  thought that light greater than the museum's penlights might have a negative effect on the firearms.  The museum's penlights weren't worthless, but didn't illuminate enough, in my opinion, to view the intricate carvings and details of the rifles.

But was the exhibit worth it...YOU BET!  Two trips around the exhibit and I still revisited several displays.  I enjoyed viewing the rifles from Franklin County, PA makers.  I'd have to agree that among my favorite were the rifles by Kuntz, Beck, Edwards and Armstrong.  I enjoy looking at original Jaegers when I have the chance and the one they had on the left side filled the bill.  

I told young Landon to take his time and we'd leave when he was done.  I said that I'd probably never see any of these longrifles again in my lifetime.  I told him he may never see them again in his.