Todd Berry displayed his collection of transposition insulators at the National. Nicknamed "tramps" by collectors, these insulators were used on telephone lines to transpose the wire position from pole to pole. If telephone wires ran parallel to each other for too great a distance, "cross talk" would result and conversations could become garbled.                                                                             

Other NIA awards: The N.R. Woodward Literary Award for best research article was awarded to Bob Machann for his articles, "Heart of Houston", published in Crown Jewels.

The Leonard Linscott Pioneer Award was presented to Mike Guthrie. The award is given annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the hobby. Mike has published articles and presented lectures on how to identify fake and altered insulators.

The NIA this year also gave special recognition to teenager Sean Green for his hard work in becoming an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America.

Below: Bob Stahr exhibited examples of Hemingray advertising in electrical trade journals. Along with the ads, he presented insulators shown in the advertising. Hemingray advertised throughout its existence, but early ads often contained text only. Picture ads shown in Bob's display ranged from the 1895 to the 1950's.