The group began with only 50 members and has grown to over 250, covering 20 states and Canada.

It was formed as a means of connecting fellow hay tool collectors and providing a means of communication and networking for members.

sign

Members share information, learn from each other and find out about upcoming farm shows and events in different areas.

Doug de Shazer, known as “The Chief” to fellow members, is responsible for publishing the group e-newsletters and member spotlights.

He says, “I started collecting things at a very young age. I collected everything. I was about 5 years old and started collecting matches, stickers, stamps, plastic models, model trains, business cards and other things.

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pulley museum

I remember spending hours cataloging, organizing and just playing with my collections.”

That childhood passion has carried over to his adult life where he created The Lewis & Clark Pulley Museum (store front pictured above) in Crofton, Nebraska.

The main focus of his collection is hay carriers and barn pulleys, but Doug is dedicated to preserving the history and fostering appreciation of early hay farming practices.

Hay history

(See an example of this hay history above.)

He sees it as a personal mission to collect, restore, document, educate and display the tools and equipment used by hay farmers in years past.

The museum to date has around 260 hay carriers, several hundred barn pulleys and hundreds of other small tools associated with the hay industry.

Members of the NAHTCA are a passionate group and committed to the documentation and preservation of early haying equipment.

One member, Barry Merenoff from New Haven, Michigan, offers these three rules about collecting pulleys:

1. No one collector has all the good ones.
Corollary – Other collectors have some you want, and they want some you have.

2. No one collector can have all the pieces.
Corollary – No matter how you limit your pulley collection, you won’t be able to get them all.

3. No matter how much you learn about pulleys, there is something you don’t know.
Corollary – Every time you exchange information with another pulley collector, you learn something.

harvester hay fork

Each year the group holds a show and swap meet. The 7th Annual Hay Tool Swap Meet and Show will be held April 27-28, 2012 at the Ashland County Fair Grounds, 2042 Claremont Ave, Ashland, Ohio. Contact Dale at (419) 281-0748 or Doug at (402) 510-8845 or click here to send an email for more information about the show or to join the NAHTCA and receive the free e-newsletter.

Click here for an article on hay carriers from The North American Hay Tool Collectors Association's newsletter.  FG

Photo above shows the “Harvester Hay Fork Carrier” MFG. by the Hunt Helm and Ferris Company of Harvard, IL; PAT 1919.  Photos courtesy of Doug De Shazer.