Club & Collection Roots:

Here we start a rough index of notes and links to a chronology
of the Ag Machinery Collection and Antique Mechanics Club. We hope
this helps spur the memories of our alumni and encourages them
to clarify and contribute to the content..
(Created: 5-6-04; Rev:________)

Earliest notable reference: F. Hal Higgins finds and buys 188x Standish
gasoline engine in 1937. Many years later he donates his large collection
of literature, catalogs, and documentation to Special Collections (Link_1
Link_2 Link_3) in the Shields University Library at UC Davis. The Standish
runs, and a few years ago was operated for an episode of California
Heartland, a PBS television show still in production and with sizable
audiences in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Hal Higgins was very active in his pursuits. Here is an example postcard
(Front Back) that related to his work. It was provided by Jim Sovulewski,
a Baker&Hamilton salesman for 17 years. Jim further provided on
May 3, 2004 a copy of a 1968 letter that Hal Higgins wrote to
Mr. Wakefield Baker, President of Baker&Hamilton. The letter is notable
in that in mentions the 1884 HW Rice strawburning steam engine that
continues to be part of the Agricultural Machinery Collection here at Davis.
The letter details some of the history of strawburning engines.

This was all before the establishment of a student club, the Antique Mechanics
Club, which occurred in 1971.