Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1037769Well, you could always leave it to the Tekumel Foundation...

* runs like hell and prays that thing still shoots a bit to the left... *

Um, already tried that. They told me that they were not interested, because - they told me - the materials in my and Phil's archives "may not support our interpretation of Tekumel". Heck, they didn't really want Phil's own collection, as they didn't want the responsibility for maintaining it. From what they told me, they want the control of the IP, but nothing else. Oh, and big royalty checks, of course.

Quote from: David Johansen;1037789Once you've got a terminal diagnosis of some sort you could hold an auction.  From what you've said, the Tekumel Foundation guys don't have much money really.  So, you could auction it all off the fans and watch while the Foundation guys squirm until their arteries burst.

It's a possibility. A couple of the big-name auction guys have been around, over the past couple of years as word's gotten out about what's in the basement. It'd be a nice chunk of change, if the the current prices on ebay are anything to go by. I've also been advised by Serious Collectors that the collection should be destroyed, in order to protect their investments in their own collections.

The Foundation will probably not care. Their position is that only they can "properly interpret Tekumel for the masses" and anything collected before they started their activities is not to be released or republished unless it follows their 'Official Party Line', especially as concerns the current state of play in their version of LGBTQI politics. What they really squirm over is my doing threads like this, as they really hate it when I say something that isn't what they want said.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1037794Um, already tried that. They told me that they were not interested, because - they told me - the materials in my and Phil's archives "may not support our interpretation of Tekumel". Heck, they didn't really want Phil's own collection, as they didn't want the responsibility for maintaining it. From what they told me, they want the control of the IP, but nothing else. Oh, and big royalty checks, of course.

The problem I see with auctions is that the material would be spread around. For this sort of material, ideally, you'd want it in one location under the care of a dedicated group of people or person.

It's a tough situation.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1037761I'm breaking this into two answers, if you don't mind...

No spoilers, here; keep reading and have fun! Phil used us and our adventures to explore his world, and I was delighted to see our 'footprints in the dust' in the book.

Yep; that's it. Phil's early Tekumel fiction. He showed me this back in late '77, and refused to let us publish it as he didn't think it was very good. I was delighted when it saw the light of day!

Note that it describes the Petal Throne as a rose; Dave Sutherland drew it more as a lotus, in '75.

Having fun with the book which is very readable and, of course, full of fun, inspiring details.
And here's the first line of Malcháiran's description, which I got to right after writing my last post on it:

Malcháiran "was a decaying ruin when they came to it."

I look forwards reading what comes next.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1037795It's a possibility. A couple of the big-name action guys have been around, over the past couple of years as word's gotten out about what's in the basement. It'd be a nice chunk of change, if the the current prices on ebay are anything to go by.

I highly recommend Paul Stormberg.  He takes a chunk - 30%, I think, if I remember - but he promotes the HELL out of his auctions, he knows who his big collectors are, he more than earns his fee.  "The workman is worthy of his hire."

And he's totally on the up and up.  Besides me, he's done stuff for Dave Sutherland, Tim Kask, Rob Kuntz, Jim Ward, and others, and they're all 100% happy.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1037795I've also been advised by Serious Collectors that the collection should be destroyed, in order to protect their investments in their own collections.

There are two possible answers:

1)  "Sure, if you pay me $250,000"

2)  "Kiss my sister's black cat's ass."

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;1037811The problem I see with auctions is that the material would be spread around. For this sort of material, ideally, you'd want it in one location under the care of a dedicated group of people or person.

It's a tough situation.

Agreed. I have been trying to float the idea of a virtual museum on-line where everyone can see the stuff, but I seem to be about the only one interested in the project. It got very badly shot down by the 'senior members' of my old game group, despite my working out ways that it could support itself and be run with minimal work.

It does get old, over the years. Everybody seems to be interested only in right-now tactical things, with nobody concerned about the long term future and viability of the thing. The one constant is that nobody wants to let anybody else have any share of anything - it's always MEEEEE! first.

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;1037812Having fun with the book which is very readable and, of course, full of fun, inspiring details.
And here's the first line of Malcháiran's description, which I got to right after writing my last post on it:

Malcháiran "was a decaying ruin when they came to it."

I look forwards reading what comes next.

Yep, it is. The place has seen better days, but we still managed to find it a challenge.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1037818I highly recommend Paul Stormberg.  He takes a chunk - 30%, I think, if I remember - but he promotes the HELL out of his auctions, he knows who his big collectors are, he more than earns his fee.  "The workman is worthy of his hire."

And he's totally on the up and up.  Besides me, he's done stuff for Dave Sutherland, Tim Kask, Rob Kuntz, Jim Ward, and others, and they're all 100% happy.

There are two possible answers:

1)  "Sure, if you pay me $250,000"

2)  "Kiss my sister's black cat's ass."

Agreed. He's the only honest broker I've met, in this whole fiasco.

Yep. Which is why I'm said to be "difficult to work with".

Chirine, have you considered contacting the University of Minnesota about taking the collection some day? Especially considering Phil was a professor there, I would think the Archives & Special Collections folks might take an interest, and it would ensure that everything was preserved properly. And if they're not interested, they would probably be able to put you in touch with another museum/archive that specializes in that sort of thing. Just a thought anyway...

Quote from: Morandir;1037835Chirine, have you considered contacting the University of Minnesota about taking the collection some day? Especially considering Phil was a professor there, I would think the Archives & Special Collections folks might take an interest, and it would ensure that everything was preserved properly. And if they're not interested, they would probably be able to put you in touch with another museum/archive that specializes in that sort of thing. Just a thought anyway...

Short form: I did, they aren't.

Long Form: None of the museums here in the Twin Cities are interested; I approached them using my contacts on their staffs at the behest of the Tekumel Foundation, as they did not want to have to store or maintain Phil's files and collection. I tried to sweeten the deal with the addition of my own collections, the idea being to give Phil's work in context and with as complete a record as possible. The basic issue is funding (and a lack thereof) and storage space (ditto). Libraries all over the place are stuffed to the gills with books, and are now in the process of removing duplicates and less-accessed books from their shelves. See also:

http://kstp.com/national/university-libraries-purging-dusy-volumes-online-digitization/4777052/?cat=12678

What I found is that unless a 'special collection' is part of an endowment with on-going financial support to pay for itself, it is not particularly welcome at a museum / archive / library. Materials will be held for a period of time, but then are often 'deaccessioned' if they don't fit in with the basic mission and / or focus of the organization. The 'market' for early D & D materials is good, mostly because of the high prices being paid by collectors, but there was no interest in either Phil's academic archives of the game-related materials.

Tekumel, being  a niche interest in a niche hobby, has even less interest to the 'outside world'. My collection is unique, being all of the documentation on the subject as well as the artifacts we generated, but there has been little (if any interest) in doing anything with it while I'm alive. It's like with Dave and Gary's collections, and what happened to them; lots of discussion, but no action, and then after both had passed away their materials were sold off by their heirs. I made sure to save everything for the Foundation - over their protests, at times - and duplicated it for my own collection on the assumption that at some point in the future it would be useful to scholars, gamers, somebody.

I think I've been mistaken though; all the 'offers of help' that I've had in the past have always wound up being somebody who wants to get their mitts on the stuff for themselves, and not for Phil or Tekumel.

So, I'll finish my book, and see where we are at that point, I guess.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1037844What I found is that unless a 'special collection' is part of an endowment with on-going financial support to pay for itself, it is not particularly welcome at a museum / archive / library.

That goes for pretty much any museum.  The Science Museum of Minnesota has an entire five foot tall map case full of Kris knives; the Louvre has literally thousands of Mesopotamian cylindrical seals.

It becomes even worse with things that need maintenance.  Every railroad museum in the world has all the piles of rusting iron they need; they are not interested in acquiring any more, unless it comes with restoration and maintenance funds.  Or is something really, really rare and distinctive.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1037825Agreed. I have been trying to float the idea of a virtual museum on-line where everyone can see the stuff, but I seem to be about the only one interested in the project.

I was about to mention that idea in my last post. The problem with this idea is of course: how do you finance such a system? It's only virtual in words, 'cause really, it's information stored on drives somewhere out there. And who has the keys to the treasure? etc.
But a virtual museum would be wonderful ... if only for the digital stuff.

What a conundrum. If only the Foundation could actually start working as one and generally be opened and forward looking.

Sad.

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1037825Agreed. I have been trying to float the idea of a virtual museum on-line where everyone can see the stuff, but I seem to be about the only one interested in the project.

I'm interested. And, from the fact that some of the questions here that have come from research in the Blue Room and old out of print books and zines, others are too. The key question is how many are willing to do any work, which may not be any physical or mental work but actually just donating some money.

An idea for you to explore locally- have you contacted the local historical society? Don't know how your's are but here they are actually really helpful and useful, doing everything from physical to virtual preservation of things. I've helped my local society on several projects, from preserving barns to preserving papers. I would think that a local professor, world traveler, author of many books, creator of a multi edition multi format game played internationally, with connections to the foundations and founders of the rpg and wargame industries, would be something they would be interested in. Or at the very least something they could help with.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1037887That goes for pretty much any museum.  The Science Museum of Minnesota has an entire five foot tall map case full of Kris knives; the Louvre has literally thousands of Mesopotamian cylindrical seals.

It becomes even worse with things that need maintenance.  Every railroad museum in the world has all the piles of rusting iron they need; they are not interested in acquiring any more, unless it comes with restoration and maintenance funds.  Or is something really, really rare and distinctive.

Yep. And RPGs are not on their list of the rare and distinctive.

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;1037902I was about to mention that idea in my last post. The problem with this idea is of course: how do you finance such a system? It's only virtual in words, 'cause really, it's information stored on drives somewhere out there. And who has the keys to the treasure? etc.
But a virtual museum would be wonderful ... if only for the digital stuff.

What a conundrum. If only the Foundation could actually start working as one and generally be opened and forward looking.

Sad.

I worked this out; a 'virtual gift shop', powered by Zazzle. The biggest effort would come in setting it up and getting photos of all of the artifacts.

I am, to be frank, not holding my breath. They are all about 'control' and 'prestige', and they've done a great job of strangling Tekumel.