Eric -

There's a tobacco museum here in Ontario, Canada - believe it or not, even
this far north we can grow tobacco quite successfully.  Successfully until
of course, the anti-smoking lobby got very active in the past few years.
(No I'm not a smoker and not an ex-smoker, just making an observation.)  A
number of the tobacco farms have been turned over to peanuts (believe it or
not!) and ginseng.  But there is still tobacco being grown.

You can reach them:  Mary Baruth, Operations Coordinator/Curator, Ontario
Tobacco Museum & Heritage Centre, 200 Talbot Road, Delhi, Ontario, Canada
N4B 2A2.  Or call (519)582-0278 or fax (519)582-0122.

I'm sure Mary would be happy to speak with you about their operation and
others they are familiar with.

Good luck.



At 03:18 PM 7/17/97 +0000, you wrote:
>We would appreciate any help or advice in our effort to establish an
>international tobacco museum.  We are new to the museum world, but we
>hold the world's largest archive on the tobacco issue.  Here is some
>background information...
>
>At least a dozen or so tobacco museums have documented tobacco's history
>reflecting the role of tobacco in the economic and social development of
>the United States and other countries around the world.  These museums,
>that explore the diversity of cultures that have shaped and been shaped
>by tobacco trade, are supported primarily by the tobacco industry.  For
>example, the Museum of Tobacco Art and History in Nashville, Tennessee,
>supported by United States Tobacco (UST) features a unique collection of
>pipes and other artifacts from every part of the world and traces "the
>history of tobacco dating from pre-Columbian times."
>
>We have had the opportunity to visit many of these museums in a number
>of countries, including Sweden, France, Japan (the Tobacco and Salt
>Museum), Canada, and Germany.  In not a single museum is there an
>accurate reference to the public health efforts during the past century
>to counteract tobacco use and its promotion.
>
>For more than two decades, through the work of an organization known as
>DOC, we have monitored, documented and saved every bit of information on
>both sides of this controversial issue.  Several years ago, we
>established the DOC Tobacco Archive and International Resource Center.
>This vast collection of materials in print, audio, video, and other
>media, documents the history of tobacco use, the influence of tobacco
>advertising on society, and world-wide public health efforts to
>counteract its use.
>
>Newspapers, magazines, trade journals, annual reports, and other
>documents from major tobacco companies, advertisements, point-of-sale
>promotional displays, posters and signs, audio cassettes, video footage,
>books, photographs, slides, toys, and other ephemera demonstrate the
>role of tobacco in popular culture around the world.  Political and
>legislative activities of the tobacco industry and public health
>organizations are documented by transcripts, Congressional records,
>hearings, depositions, conference proceedings, internal correspondence,
>and other documents.
>
>The collection holds more than 200,000 tobacco industry documents
>covering a variety of topics including research, marketing plans, and
>the industry's 14-year collaboration with the American Medical
>Association (yes, you read that correctly).
>
>The archive also includes a rare collection of cigarette advertisements
>in medical journals from the 1930s to (believe it or not) the 1980s.
>These are quite rare, as most of you understand that when the journals
>are bound for libraries, the advertising pages are removed.  We have
>literally tracked these journals through medical societies throughout
>the country over the past twenty years.  Additionally, the 2,000 books
>in the collection (including more than 200 rare books) provide a great
>history of this controversial subject that seems to have dominated
>headlines around the world.
>
>With access to more than 7 hours of original one-inch reels of cigarette
>commercials made for television in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, we
>produced a video called "Smoke That Cigarette" (named after the once
>popular song). The film uses vintage clips of tobacco company executives
>juxtaposed with pioneering researchers like Dr. Alton Ochsner (one of
>the first to make the connection between smoking and lung cancer in the
>1930s).  Mixed in are the old, but memorable jingles in cigarette
>commercials.
>
>This socio-cultural resource on the tobacco issue covers the issue from
>all vantage points over a period of more than a century.  We feel the
>materials naturally serve the establishment of a museum, and we've
>established this as a three-year goal.
>
>We are members of the Texas Association of Museums (TAM).  We presented
>this topic at their annual meeting two years ago, and we are excited to
>becoming a part of the museum community.  TAM has been very helpful in
>our planning stages, but we seek advice from anyone interested in
>providing a helping hand.
>
>While we are currently based in Houston, Texas, we are shopping around
>for any community that thinks we can be an added attraction or point of
>interest.  Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions?  Please share.
>
>Thanks.
>
>Eric Solberg, M.A.
>Executive Director
>5615 Kirby Drive, Suite 440
>Houston, Texas  77005
>(800) DOC-9340
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
Thomas A. Reitz
Manager/Curator
Doon Heritage Crossroads
R.R. #2
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5

Telephone:  519-748-1439 ext. 227
Fax:        519-748-0009
e-mail:     [log in to unmask]
http://www.region.waterloo.on.ca/doon/