Old Towne Guide SN119495

[Chuck Sauberlich]

I am in the process of restoring an Old Towne Guide. I already know the canoe was built in 1936/37 and sold to Burr Oaks Camp in Mukwonago WI. I am hoping to restore it to it's original appearance as it was at the camp. In my research I came across an old post card dated June 15th 1943, that shows 4 canoes which appear to be Old Town Guides. I am thinking that my canoe could easily be one of those pictured and am curious if there is anyway to search the Old Town records to see how many of these canoes were sold to the camp.

 

[Benson Gray]

anyway to search the Old Town records to see how many of these canoes were sold to the camp.

The short answer is yes but it would not be easy to count them. You would need to buy a set of the scanned Old Town build records from http://store.wcha.org/Old-Town-Build-Records-on-CD-ROM.html and then search them one at a time to get an exact count. This is not quick or easy but it can be done as described in some of the messages at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?4641 by Roger Young who undertook a similar research project to find all of the model / sign canoes. Let me know if you plan to take this on and I can offer some specific tools and suggestions to simplify the process.

A quick search here for Mukwonago shows two others at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?11258 and http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?4063 including a 25 foot long war canoe.

Let me know if this doesn't answer your question or if there is anything else that I can do to help.

Benson

 

[Chuck Sauberlich]

Burr Oaks Camp canoe

Thanks Benson, I thought there was a possibility that the Old Town records could be searched by customer name. I don't have a great need for the information, I just thought if the camp only had bought 4 of those canoes, then one of them on the post card would be the one I have. I've been trying to find out what name or number was painted on the bow, so I can replicate that on the restoration. So for now I think I will concentrate my efforts on finding someone that has a photo of the canoes showing more detail. I'm new to this blogging but have tried to attach a copy of the post card for anyone interested. Chuck

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Hi Chuck,

There seems to be some on-line information on Burr Oaks Camp. I've found that there is a boat-load (canoe-load) of nostalgic-feeling in folks, when it comes to the camps they went to as kids. There is often at least one website devoted to any long-gone camp, where campers can connect again and share memories. There is usually an historical archive somewhere, especially if the camp still exists. Burr Oak still exists, but has changed hands and has a different name. You might find out about the canoes by contacting those who currently run it.

http://bebercamp.com/about/our_history

I also noticed that on another website, Burr Oak was described as one of the largest all-girls camps in the country. So, my guess is they had a fleet of canoes... maybe not all Old Towns-- maybe some Shell Lakes and Thompsons too-- although it makes sense that they'd use the same provider if ordering a number of canoes at the same time. If other pictures are available, maybe some of your questions will be answered... and if you'd like to share what you find, we'd enjoy hearing. It's good to know that others care where their old canoe has been!

Kathy

 

[Dave Osborn]

Chuck,
I have the CD set of Old Town build records if you want to borrow them to look through them.
Unfortunately they are not searchable by keyword. It would entail looking at each individual record during a particular serial number sequence to find them.
Dave

 

[Chuck Sauberlich]

Dave,
I might take you up on that. I've had to shut down my shop due to propane prices and shortages. Gives me more time to do research.
Kathy,
I am in touch with the director at Beber(Burr Oaks) camp. Unfortunately they have a limited archive and no canoe pictures. I have looked at the other Burr Oaks camp sites on the net and they seem to be inactive. I think there may have been a reunion in 2010. I know the photos I'm looking for are out there some where. So will keep looking. I have a call in to the Waukesha county museum and they are looking for me. It does look like there are a lot of people that have fond memories of the camp, I just have to find a way to contact them. Chuck

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Hi Chuck-- Best of luck on your camp-research! Something is likely to turn up with the connections you've made. And there are probably more postcards out there, if you watch eBay for them. (I've collected a few from a resort my grandparents had in the '50s.)

Kathy

 

[Benson Gray]

I may be able to offer some other research options. There is a process known as optical character recognition or OCR that can be used to convert scanned images like the build records into text. It is not very good with hand written information but many of the Burr Oaks Camp canoes were shipped after Old Town was commonly using a typewriter to record the destination information. I just tested this on the other records in the 119K box and found another canoe with serial number 119249 that shipped to this camp as shown below along with the build record for your canoe. It will take some time to process additional records with OCR but this may yield some additional information. It also appears that they purchased a number of rowboats.

It was also interesting to see that Steve Chamides called about both of these canoes in 1980. He may be another resource for more details about these canoes and the camp if you can track him down. Good luck and let us know what you find. Thanks,

Benson

 

[Chuck Sauberlich]

Benson, This is very interesting. I noted that all four craft were ordered under the same purchase order. Also note that a close look at the postcard above, show's a rowboat. Very likely an Old Town ordered at that time. Thanks so much for the help. I will try to locate Steve Chamides. Is there anyway to know if he happens to be a WCHA member?

 

[Benson Gray]

Is there anyway to know if he happens to be a WCHA member?

Annie Burke just confirmed that Steve Chamides is not currently a member of the WCHA and doesn't appear to have been one in the past either. A quick search at http://www.yellowpages.com/whitepag...Chamides&fap_terms[city]=&fap_terms[state]=IL has some contact information for a person with that name in Illinois. Several other related build records are attached below. Good luck,

Benson