Friday, October 4, 2019
The Lost Herrick Gunning Diaries
Where Are The Herrick Gunning Diaries And Why is the Museum Closing The Decoy Exhibit and Hiding The Decoys In Storage?
The connection between Orson Munn Sr. and Orson Munn Jr. to the Herrick families would be considered more than close. The Herrick's and Bunn are both mentioned in Orson Munn Senior's gunning diaries (see Decoy Magazine May/June 2015:Jannsen). And knowing the well-documented close relationship of the Herrick and Munn families, it would be extremely unlikely for the Herrick's not to have known Charles Bunn. It would be logical to find Bunn mentioned in the Herrick gunning diaries. If so, it would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Newbold L. Herrick knew precisely who the real maker of the decoys he said were made by Bowman really was.
Shortly after my discovery that Bunn was the real carver of the decoys that N.H. Herrick and Harold E. Herrick told Bill Mackey the decoys were made by Bowman, I had ask Joshua Ruff the history curator at the Long Island Museums if he would check the Herrick gunning diaries for any mention of Bunn. I keep pressing Joshua to check them to see if Charles Bunn was mentioned. In a phone conversation during this period with Joshua, I also requested that he change the existing attribution for Bowman and to attribute Charles Bunn as the maker of the decoys. Joshua refused any change until he himself researched Bill Bowman
I told him he didn't have to do the research, I had already done the research for the Bowman claim and that I would turn over what I had for his evaluation, which if he didn't have an agenda, he would have reviewed the documentation. If he found something lacking he could point it out. Otherwise, change the attribution from Bowman to Bunn, as it should be.
For many years I would ask Joshua how his Bowman research was progressing? He would have an excuse for why he hadn't done it yet. Then after a while he would not respond to my queries. Then my e-mails went unanswered. He had pulled in his head like a turtle. Then a few years ago, out of the blue, Josh responded to an e-mail. He wrote back that he would review the documentation for Bunn.
From the beginning of my research I have sent Joshua most, if not all, of the documentation that I had for Bunn, which was enough for anyone without an agenda to accept the attribution for Bunn.
I have also sent him every article that Joe Jannsen, Joe Engers (editor, Decoy Magazine) or I have written on Charles Bunn and his decoys, which included the November/December 2015 Decoy Magazine Editorial, page 18, " The Final Chapter" by Joe Engers which included the Joe Jannsen photograph of the 2005 meeting with Donal O'Brien, Orson Munn Jr., Joe Jannsen, and myself with Joshua Ruff at the Museum in Stony Brook..
At that meeting Orson Munn Jr. identified the Herrick shorebirds as identical to the shorebirds that were in the two L.L.Bean baskets of shorebird decoys that went missing from the Munn families Southampton House, "The Arches" basement at an unknown date.
As I have previously stated, I believe it is very possible the two L.L. Bean baskets of shorebird donated by the Herrick's are actually the missing Munn decoys. I have proven Newbold L. Herrick fabricated the Bowman attribution, so we know he possessed a flawed moral compass, which is an affliction of many wealthy people, and apparently the affliction has spread to Joshua Ruff and the Long Island Museums at Stony Brook.
After I gave up trying to convince Joshua to do the right thing, Joe Jannsen began his quest to review the now famous Herrick diaries. Over many years, Joe requested an appointment to see the diaries. Joshua always said it would not be a problem. However, every time Joe tried to set up a date to do so, Joshua would have an excuse why it was not be possible at the time; he was going on vacation, he was too involved with a project, he didn't have time, or some other excuse why Joe couldn't see the diaries.
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On July 22, 2017, I sent a formal request to the Museums at Stony Brook in an effort to set up an appointment to review the diaries which is seen below:
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I would like to make arrangements to read the the contents of the Herrick gunning diaries (1871-1929) volumes for the research I am pursuing on L.I. gunning history.
Jamie Reason
President of the Narrow Bay Historical Society
Mastic Beach Village Historian: Emeritus
Contributing Writer For Decoy Magazine
And a Member of the Long Island Museums at Stony Brook
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On July 26, I received a response from the Long Island Museums. Apparently, it took the museum four days to come up with what I believe is their latest ruse to prevent the disclosure of the contents of the Herrick diaries. Below is the Museum's response.
"Hello Mr. Reason,
Thank you for your interest in the museum and it's collections. Unfortunately the Herrick gunning diaries are a bit of a mystery to us. Our current collections manager, who has been here for three years has never seen them, and the previous collections manager who was here for sixteen years, never saw them either. When our catalogs records were digitized and migrated into our PastPerfect collections management software close to twenty years ago, the records were never checked against the actual objects to verify the accuracy of the descriptions. It's likely they are somewhere in our art vault, but like a misshelved book at a library, finding it becomes the proverbial needle in a haystack. We do, however, have the records books of the Southside Sportsman Club, Long Island, with records of trout, duck and gunning and game take, 1917-1959, if that may be of interest.
Best,
Jonathan M. Olly,Ph.D.
Assistant Curator
The Long Island Museum
1200 Route 25 A
Stony Brook, N.Y 11790
www.longislandmuseum.org"
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There are only a few explanations for the "lost Herrick gunning diaries".
(A.) The museums staff is incompetent and unprofessional and they can not be trusted with the important artifacts placed in their care. And after they admit that they have determined that the diaries are official missing, they apparently think there is no reason to look for them. One can only wonder if there any other artifacts of great importance that have gone missing. Or are the Herrick diaries the only missing artifacts in the museum?
(B) Or could it be the Museums staff is lying about losing the diaries, to prevent the truth from coming out about Newbold L. Herrick's lie that Bowman was the maker of the Charles Bunn decoys and the Herrick families additional injection "Herrick Family stories" to the original fabricated story.
A family tradition for over 50 years.
Just this Summer, members of the Herrick family visited the William Floyd Estate, the home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence in Mastic Beach, L.I. where I have been a volunteer for a decade and have done special programs, including traditional decoy carving demonstrations and a discussion on Long Island decoy history and programs on the Civil War during the150th anniversary of the conflict (see Decoy Magazine March/April 2009 "Gunning At Bills Place").
The Herrick descendants engaged the park ranger giving them a tour of the home. When they saw some of the old decoys on display in the house, they began to relate the Bowman story. The ranger who is a close friend of mine and the person who schedules my programs every year, who has no agenda, and has seen my documentation for Charles Bunn, cut them off saying no those decoys were made by Charles Bunn from Shinnecock. Haven't you kept up with the latest research? They insisted that Bowman was the maker and that he lived in the Lawrence marshes. When she ask them why he lived in the marshes, they added some new Herrick B.S., "Because Newbold Herrick didn't pay him enough to live anywhere else." Which once again changes the old narrative of Bowman living in Maine and working in a sawmill or as a cabinet maker.
(C.) Another possibility is the Herrick Family asked for the gunning diaries back so they could prevent the discovery that Newbold Herrick fabricated Bowman for a nefarious purpose, say a
$27,000 tax write-off and that he did know Bunn and that Bunn was indeed the real maker.
(D.) Are the Herrick's somehow putting pressure on the museum staff to continue to protect Newbold L. Herrick's fabrication? This violates the museum's mission statement, not to mention decency and if so, what form of pressure???
If the readers of Long Island Decoy Forum want to see if there is a connection to Newbold L. Herrick and Charles Bunn in the Herrick gunning diaries, I would suggest that readers contact:
Joshua Ruff, Head Curator at the Long Island Museum 631-751 0066 ext. 224
jruff@longislandmuseum.org
Jonathan Olly Assistant Curator 631-751-0066 ext. 222
jollylongislandmuseum.org
Ask them why they are not re-attributing the decoys to the rightful maker, Charles Sumner Bunn.
