Hey there fellow vintage detector buffs: A few days ago I posted a musing that ....... if Kellyco has been around since 1955, as they say, then is it possible they've held on to older materials, catalogs, etc....
So I took the plunge and clicked on their "contact us" tab of their webpage. I told them I was "doing research" on vintage detectors, and was curious as to whether they had company records going back to their earlier days. A day later, I got an email from a company rep. named "Ray", who asked that I call him personally.
Today I talked to the fellow. He wasn't even really aware of whether or not they had older archives (as apparently this isn't a topic that comes up very often). He'd asked around of some long-time management (the owners, etc...) and was led to some back-rooms, where about "20 file cabinets" do in fact exist ! He quickly browsed through a few, looked through a few random folders, and here's what he says:
He says that they have VOLUMES AND VOLUMES of old instruction manuals, schematics, diagrams, sales literature, etc.... of all the past detectors (manufacturer's) they've brokered sales for. Ie.: all the makes/brands of whom their catalogs sold for, they've held on to the particulars of the maker's brochures, manuals, etc....
So his thought was, that if someone had a particular make or model, that they could try to find *just* that particular one, and then digitize it for *just* that situation/request. That wasn't really what I had in mind. I explained that I wondered if there isn't just a kelly-co catalogs themselves, where all the offerings, of a particular year, were shown. In other words, instead of just the paperwork on individual machines, but rather, the offerings (annual sale catalogs) of ALL the offerings in brief form.
In the modern internet age, they no longer have paper catalogs. It's all on the web now. And to the extent they have mailers and paper catalogs, it's only a few pages, and refers buyers to the website. Doh! But as recently as 15 or 20 yrs. ago, they still did have their voluminous catalogs (akin to what's on the web now, except in book/magazine catalog form). He said that yes, he had seen an example of a single catalog, and described it as "40 pages" and "from the 1960s". I asked if he thought there was even earlier catalogs than that there, and he said yes, but that he hadn't studied all the cabinets and files yet.
He said it would be prohibitive, time-wise, for anyone to try to digitize their entire collections. Unless, he mused, if something could be set up for a fee-type system. Where it would cost persons who desire to see a certain manual, or image, etc... At this point I had to be honest with him, and say that I really didn't for-see that being an economic reality. For starters, there's not a lot of vintage detector buffs out there. Certainly not anyone who's actually USING any of those old machine (beyond mere curiosity sake). Because today's $50 Harbor Freight toys, as you know, will run circles around something a mere 35 yrs. old. Doh!
I acknowledged that occasionally I'd seen someone post that they're looking for schematics or instruction manuals for some odd-ball old BFO or something. But that the reality was, it's probably not enough to demand to merit someone taking weeks of time to copiously digitize 20 file cabinets of material.
I'm sure that for us vintage buffs, it would probably just be only the actual compendium of kellyco offerings that would be cool to see. Not all the individual maker's brochures, manuals, etc..... And even though their catalogs might have gotten to "40 pages" by the late 1960s (once they started including aprons, headphones, diggers, books, blah blah), yet I'll bet that their catalogs of earlier times were much more brief, small, etc.... (simply not that many makers out there in the 1950s!).
I asked Ray if this archive would be open for a man-on-the-street to come browse through. Versus if it's only white glove -employee only stuff. He said they might be open to letting a person come browse, and photo certain select interests. He said he'd want to see a "proposal" in writing.
They are near Orlando, FL. Anyone near there that would be willing to represent a contingent of vintage detector buffs, that can volunteer to go take random select digital cam photos ?
So I took the plunge and clicked on their "contact us" tab of their webpage. I told them I was "doing research" on vintage detectors, and was curious as to whether they had company records going back to their earlier days. A day later, I got an email from a company rep. named "Ray", who asked that I call him personally.
Today I talked to the fellow. He wasn't even really aware of whether or not they had older archives (as apparently this isn't a topic that comes up very often). He'd asked around of some long-time management (the owners, etc...) and was led to some back-rooms, where about "20 file cabinets" do in fact exist ! He quickly browsed through a few, looked through a few random folders, and here's what he says:
He says that they have VOLUMES AND VOLUMES of old instruction manuals, schematics, diagrams, sales literature, etc.... of all the past detectors (manufacturer's) they've brokered sales for. Ie.: all the makes/brands of whom their catalogs sold for, they've held on to the particulars of the maker's brochures, manuals, etc....
So his thought was, that if someone had a particular make or model, that they could try to find *just* that particular one, and then digitize it for *just* that situation/request. That wasn't really what I had in mind. I explained that I wondered if there isn't just a kelly-co catalogs themselves, where all the offerings, of a particular year, were shown. In other words, instead of just the paperwork on individual machines, but rather, the offerings (annual sale catalogs) of ALL the offerings in brief form.
In the modern internet age, they no longer have paper catalogs. It's all on the web now. And to the extent they have mailers and paper catalogs, it's only a few pages, and refers buyers to the website. Doh! But as recently as 15 or 20 yrs. ago, they still did have their voluminous catalogs (akin to what's on the web now, except in book/magazine catalog form). He said that yes, he had seen an example of a single catalog, and described it as "40 pages" and "from the 1960s". I asked if he thought there was even earlier catalogs than that there, and he said yes, but that he hadn't studied all the cabinets and files yet.
He said it would be prohibitive, time-wise, for anyone to try to digitize their entire collections. Unless, he mused, if something could be set up for a fee-type system. Where it would cost persons who desire to see a certain manual, or image, etc... At this point I had to be honest with him, and say that I really didn't for-see that being an economic reality. For starters, there's not a lot of vintage detector buffs out there. Certainly not anyone who's actually USING any of those old machine (beyond mere curiosity sake). Because today's $50 Harbor Freight toys, as you know, will run circles around something a mere 35 yrs. old. Doh!
I acknowledged that occasionally I'd seen someone post that they're looking for schematics or instruction manuals for some odd-ball old BFO or something. But that the reality was, it's probably not enough to demand to merit someone taking weeks of time to copiously digitize 20 file cabinets of material.
I'm sure that for us vintage buffs, it would probably just be only the actual compendium of kellyco offerings that would be cool to see. Not all the individual maker's brochures, manuals, etc..... And even though their catalogs might have gotten to "40 pages" by the late 1960s (once they started including aprons, headphones, diggers, books, blah blah), yet I'll bet that their catalogs of earlier times were much more brief, small, etc.... (simply not that many makers out there in the 1950s!).
I asked Ray if this archive would be open for a man-on-the-street to come browse through. Versus if it's only white glove -employee only stuff. He said they might be open to letting a person come browse, and photo certain select interests. He said he'd want to see a "proposal" in writing.
They are near Orlando, FL. Anyone near there that would be willing to represent a contingent of vintage detector buffs, that can volunteer to go take random select digital cam photos ?
Good work getting your contact person to do a little sniffing around instead of just blowing you off!
Also good on Kellyco for saving all that old stuff!
I had a book years ago entitled" Metal Detector Buyer's Guide" ...I think I got it from KellyCo. It had a lot of good information in it from a lot of different companies. If a guy could just get his hands on that one old catalog,..that's really all you need.