For those of you that read my thread "Current Projects in the Works" you may already know this but for those who don't, I wanted to share. I started research a few months ago because I am in the process of writing my first book on drums. As part of this process I had asked my friends at the Company of Fifers and Drummers Museum in Ivoryton CT if they would let me photograph their entire collection of drums, close to 150 historic drums at this time. I offered to catalog the entire collection digitally for them since I was going to be doing that anyway and they were grateful. Fast forward three short months and I now have my own set of keys to the building and will continue to maintain the collection even after the book is done.
A good friend of mine runs the web sit fielddrums.com, which is dedicated to the history and education of historic drums, mostly rope tension and marching drums, with article on drums dating back to the 1500s. Ellis (the guy who runs the site) asked me if I had ever considered blogging about the experience and offered to make me a guest writer on his site. He believes that the opportunity to journal the cataloging of such an amazing collection is unprecedented and may be a once in a life time opportunity. I readily agreed and am now 4 articles in, with my most recent article posting on Thanksgiving.
The current article is entitled "CFD - A Civil War Surprise" and if you scroll further down the page of article that are still in the current list you will also find two of my other articles, "CFD -In the begining- A look through the vent hole of Frank Fancher's Competition Field Drum" and "CFD - 11 Nails to Wide Awake". And my first article, entitled "CFD - The Company of Fifers and Drummers Museum".
I hope that you will take some time to read through the articles and share your thoughts. I would also love to hear feedback and would like to know what all of you would be interested in me writing about at the museum. Since this is such an enormous undertaking, I will post any updates on research and writing here, along with some photos that will be coming soon.
The Company of Fifers and Drummers museum is a non profit organization. Currently the museum is trying to raise funds to help maintain the collection and make some repairs to the building that are desperately needed. We also have some big changes coming with displays and drum information. If you are going to be in the area and want to visit the museum,let me know and I will try and arrange to be there to answer any questions personally. Or if you would just like to consider making a donation to the museum you can click in the link in the name for more information.
