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Many of you may wonder why we need an Archive of material. Those of you who have met me probably wonder why I am always (and without shame) asking for donations of material to the Archive. This document answers those questions.

To a historian, Toastmasters presents a challenge – we are an organization of people, not of things. All too often our history only goes as far back as the oldest member in the club – to be lost when that Toastmaster moves on.

Since we have no permanent structures, since clubs may move from venue to venue every decade or so, since storage space is always at a premium, much of our historical material is lost.

That is why I have volunteered to create space for an archive – to get whatever material we can still find and then store, catalogue, copy and organize it.

I am therefore asking individual members and clubs to find material – the mysterious boxes in the club cupboard that no one has looked in for years, the old officer's manuals on members' bookshelves, the Toastmaster Magazines piled in the garage – and send it to the archives.

For the stuff that you cherish – photos, newspaper clippings, keepsake pins – send copies (preferably electronic copies). All material may be given to your Area or Division Governor, or brought with you to a conference.

I will bring some of the material to conferences as a display; other information (such as club histories and lists of past District Officers) I plan to make available as down-loadable files. And I will be able to help research any questions you may have about Toastmasters in the past.

For those worrying about care, the material will be kept in a temperature controlled room and all newspaper clippings will be placed in plastic protectors and only copies will be used for display.

Some of you may wish to help more directly in this quest – I have a list of suggestions (and a corresponding list of Toastmaster Projects you can write off) on this webpage.

If you have any questions for me, e-mail me here.

The Archives is seeking anything and everything dealing with Toastmasters (including Gavel clubs). A complete list of the material we are seeking can be found here.

Thank you for your support
David T. Shaw
August 2008