[meteorite-list] Article about Nininger in MAPS

From: al mitterling <almitt_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 11:10:19 -0500
Message-ID: <04D45B69D2BF47C3A8040DDB41BDEC95_at_StarmanPC>

Hi Mike and all,

Saw this post and its just hard for me not to respond. I know that Nininger
indicated that he felt Meteor(ite) Crater should become a national monument.
Part of this basis was the fact in order to honor the claim, the Barringer
Family need to provide a certain amount of material from the area. I know
that railroad cars of Canyon Diablos were sent out to be smelted for the
metal they contained. I don't think they were able to provide the amount
necessary to be a viable claim though.

I am sure Nininger having spent so much time hunting down meteorites would
have greatly wanted to put both the crater and his collection together to
form an institution for the much needed work on the study of meteorites at
that time which there was no real formal organization of that time. It would
have been a relieve for him if he could have went with a salary and had some
finacial stability in his life.

Nininger had approached some of the institutions many times throughout the
years and had tried to get something going both when he was new and as he
gained experience in meteorites. He actually came close a number of times
but never saw them come to realization. Not sure about the dates but LaPaz
and Nininger were rivals and had a long running conflict, where LaPaz
despised Nininger for selling meteorites in order to fund his program of
finding meteorites, feed his family and provide for them. Seems funny they
would be partners in such an national institute when they didn't like each
other.

The problem I have with this article (so far) and I have not researched it
enough to properly be responding, is that the authors were the ones who
exaggerated the Port Orford mystery and made many erroneous statements in
regards to John Evans. People can read a rebuttal of this in Meteorite
Magazine that was written about a year ago, and I posted to the list about
the article and commented in Meteorite Magazine. To me the author of this
blew away the authors of the Port Orford Meteorite Mystery. One thing they
said which is simply wrong is that John Evans had no formal training. In
fact he had been highly educated for the tasks he preformed. They use John
Evan's survey markers to this day for surveying in Oregon. I'd be glad to
post some of that information here if needed in regards to the formal
training. Getting back to the point of the authors of this article and
abstract, is if they weren't accurate in the Port Orford article then they
could also be in error in regards to this article which seems to be putting
Nininger down. Again I will try to do some research and provide information
on this.

Being a Nininger fan and seeing how he conducted himself, reading his
passionate thoughts in the books he wrote leads me to believe that he
wouldn't have tried to surprise the Barringer Family unless they had
indicated an interest in working with him. I am sure there are
correspondences that will reveal the truth in this matter as it revealed the
truth of the Port Orford Meteorite Mystery which was blotched up by the same
authors. All my best!

--AL Mitterling

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Jensen" <meteoriteplaya at gmail.com>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 6:03 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Article about Nininger in MAPS


Hi All
Here is an abstract of a very interesting article from the latest
(October) issue of MAPS. I can send the whole article as a PDF if
anyone is interested.

Harvey Nininger's 1948 attempt to nationalize Meteor Crater

Howard PLOTKIN1* and Roy S. CLARKE Jr.2
1Department of Philosophy, University of Western Ontario, London,
Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada
2Department of Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560?0119, USA
*Corresponding author. E-mail: hplotkin at rogers.com
(Received 14 November 2007; revision accepted 23 May 2008)

Abstract?Harvey Nininger successfully petitioned the American
Astronomical Society to pass a
motion in support of nationalizing Meteor Crater, Arizona, at its June
1948 meeting. He alleged that
the Barringer family, who held title to the crater, was depriving
American citizens of its scenic beauty
and scientific value. He then reportedly went on to make the
unauthorized?and false?claim that the
family would be receptive to a fair purchase offer for the crater. The
Barringers, who had not been
given advance warning of the petition and were not present at the
meeting, felt ambushed. They
quickly and forcefully rebutted Nininger's allegations, made it clear
they had no intention of
relinquishing their title to the crater, and terminated his exploration
rights.
What led Nininger to such a curious and self-defeating act? Based on
our reading of his
voluminous personal correspondence, we conclude that it was rooted
primarily in his complex
relationship with Frederick Leonard and Lincoln LaPaz, and his desire
to establish a national institute
for meteoritical research?with them, originally, but after a serious
falling out, on his own. Prevented
from moving his American Meteorite Museum to the crater rim, Nininger
wondered what would
happen if the crater was nationalized and made into a public park,
with an accompanying tourist
center and museum. With characteristic ?lan, [I had to look it up 1.
Enthusiastic vigor and liveliness.
   2. Distinctive style or flair.] he could picture himself at its
head, with a secure salary
and adequate space to exhibit his meteorite collection.

Here are all the other articles in the issue as well;
http://meteoritics.org/Current%20Issue.htm



Mike



Mike Jensen Meteorites
16730 E Ada PL
Aurora, CO 80017-3137
USA
720-949-6220
IMCA 4264
website: www.jensenmeteorites.com
______________________________________________
http://www.meteoritecentral.com
Meteorite-list mailing list
Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
Received on Sun 25 Jan 2009 11:10:19 AM PST