No matter how difficult moving can be, a nice surprise can occur unexpectedly.

Linda and I moved into the old family farmhouse in January. The residence is only half the size of the home we sold. To accommodate our possessions, we cleaned up the attic area of the farmhouse to use for storage.

Now, that was no easy task. The attic was packed with everything from hundreds of empty boxes to dozens of unused fruit jars. While moving old boxes around we stumbled across a binder of National Insulator Association records from the mid1970' s. I had stored the records there so long ago (some 30 years past) that I had completely forgotten about their existence.

A youthful John McDougald promotes the hobby of insulator collecting in this clipping from the July 20,1974 issue of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a newspaper with a circulation of a half-million at the time. McDougald sent this clipping to the NIA's executive director when introducing himself.

When Ernie Rostock served as NIA president, I was selected as his assistant and given the title "executive director". One of my primary responsibilities at the time was to contact show hosts and convince them of the benefits of becoming an NIA sponsored event.

The old binder contained numerous letters regarding shows and rules. The following are excerpts from an exchange of letters that I thought might be of interest to readers.

December 6, 1974 
To John McDougald, "Ernest Rostock has brought to my attention your interest in sponsoring or helping to sponsor the 1976 NIA Convention. Rostock mentioned Columbus, Ohio as the probable site you had in mind. What are your interests concerning the 1976 convention?"    Howard Banks

December 14, 1974
To Howard Banks, "We are in receipt of your letter regarding our interest in sponsoring the 1976 NIA convention. We have secured the entire Student Union Building on the campus of Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. We intend to submit a complete bid during January, 1975. Please furnish was with the Show Information Questionnaire and any other facts necessary in preparing a full and complete bid."     John & Carol McDougald

March 3, 1975
To Mr. Banks, "I am writing to give you some numbers to work with in preparing a packet of NIA supplies should we obtain the National Show bid. As time grows closer for all your decision-making, we are getting more anxious to know the results".     John & Carol McDougald

April 2, 1975
Dear Howard, "We are ecstatic! We are so pleased that the NIA officials have given us the opportunity to host the 7th National. It is a great honor and opens the door to a very full year for us. We look forward to the challenge."      John & Carol McDougald

And rise to the challenge they did. John & Carol served as excellent hosts for the 1976 show; took over the helm of Crown Jewels magazine in 1985; served in various capacities for the National Insulator Association, and ultimately produced the Price Guides that remain so invaluable to all of us today.

Also among the NIA records was this letter that tickled me:

April 25, 1975
To Howard Banks, "Governor Rhodes has asked me to thank you for your kind invitation to participate in your 1976 National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, but he has a prior commitment for that date."     James Duerk, Director of Economic Development

Was the governor of Ohio really pre-booked 16 months in advance? I can just hear him asking his economic development director, "They collect what?" Back then, I guess we thought everyone ought to be interested in insulators.