LaPorte IN has a great collection of firearms in such a small museum!

[Libertarian01]

To All,

I will share with you a few pictures I took yesterday up in LaPorte.

It is only $6 for those of us from out of county.

They have three (3) floors of antiques and look like they need more room!

Their collection of antique firearms is quite impressive and a true treasure for Indiana.

Here is a link to my Photobucket of a small sample of what you can find.

http://s365.photobucket.com/user/Libertarian01/embed/slideshow/LaPorte Museum

Regards,

Doug

 

[EdC]

Those are some dandy firearms! Thanks for sharing these.

 

[singlesix]

URRRGGHHH ... I was riding through there last weekend on my way to MI. I wish knew about the place. Nice collection.

 

[gstanley102]

Thanks for sharing. Great photos.

 

[indiucky]

Very nice...I don't know where Laporte is but it looks like it may be worth a trip...(I suffer from riveritis and break into hives if I get thirty miles or more away from the Ohio River..)

 

[EricG]

Thanks for sharing this. I had no idea this place existed.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Last I was there - over 10 years now, the collection was still in the basement of the government building.

I remember how bad the archiving / display information was formatted and presented.

Seems to be better now...thankfully.

I remember commenting to my coworker was was with me - that if I lived there I would volunteer my time to research this stuff and get much better info to display. And that it would at least be presented on word-processed format vs. rather old typed library card catalogue cards.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

I suffer from riveritis and break into hives if I get thirty miles or more away from the Ohio River

There is an ointment for that.

 

[fochman]

Here's a link to some information about the collection. It's a nice collection. I


W. A. Jones Collection of Ancient Weapons

 

[snowman]

I remember going there a couple of times on grade school field trips. I'm glad that it is still there.

 

[Libertarian01]

Last I was there - over 10 years now, the collection was still in the basement of the government building.

I remember how bad the archiving / display information was formatted and presented.

Seems to be better now...thankfully.

I remember commenting to my coworker was was with me - that if I lived there I would volunteer my time to research this stuff and get much better info to display. And that it would at least be presented on word-processed format vs. rather old typed library card catalogue cards.

To IndyGuy77,

Regrettably, such is not the case.

As a matter of fact I got into a little discussion with the "curator" of the museum. When finished with my tour I was commenting to the volunteer lady behind the desk about additional information being needed on a rifle. She directed me to the museum curator who was out on the main floor.

I told her I had noticed on one rifle it was labeled a "French Carbine of WWI." I believe this is true. However, I also think it may(?) have been a Berthier. I also politely added that the year of manufacture was not on the label. I tried to impress upon her that to collectors such as myself how valuable this information is to those of us interested. What they had labeled was potentially accurate but not complete. For example, this is like saying a car is a Chevy coupe. However, is it an Impalla, a Nova, or a Corvette? The labeling in this example is not inaccurate but it is very incomplete.

She responded that when they take a donation from someone they take it labeled "as is." An example she gave me was a jar that she knew was sugar bowl but the donors family used it as a cracker container. Thus, it was shown as a cracker container. I asked, "why not label it as a sugar bowl that was used as a cracker bowl by the Miller family?" To this I received a non response.

My honest feeling is that this woman is tremendously overworked. She was putting out additional displays as we were talking. I don't think she has any extra time to even consider going through what is already on display.

I am not an expert on WWI (or any) firearms enough to say that I saw anything blatantly mislabeled. However, as with you I do wish I had the time and money to get up there and volunteer to do research and add information to their great collection.

Regards,

Doug

 

[CitiusFortius]

My honest feeling is that this woman is tremendously overworked. She was putting out additional displays as we were talking. I don't think she has any extra time to even consider going through what is already on display.

Guess I'm part of the problem. I live minutes from the La Porte historical society and have only been there a couple times and in honesty, it's never occured to me to volunteer.

I guess when something's in your backyard you don't realize how valuable it is until someone from out of town points it out! Thanks for the photos.

 

[Ricnzak]

I was there not long after they moved into the new location. World class collection. Well worth a one tank trip.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Guess I'm part of the problem. I live minutes from the La Porte historical society and have only been there a couple times and in honesty, it's never occured to me to volunteer.

I guess when something's in your backyard you don't realize how valuable it is until someone from out of town points it out! Thanks for the photos.

If you, or any of the other LaPorte-area folks want to do this... PLEASE DO!!! The Google is an absolutely fantastic resource. Also - forums such as this one (and myriad others) are a great way to post photos and to get great definitive answers to "what is it" questions. At the very least - a way to get a start on a definitive ID.