Donated-Items-from-Around-the-World...

After receiving a phone call at the Museum, Volunteer Ms. Nancy has the ball rolling on acquiring donations....

Way to go, Ms. Nancy.....

Letter from the Donator, Laura

You asked for my Laurel and Hardy collection history........

I've always liked all the old time comedians: "The Boys", The Three Stooges, Marx Brothers, etc. Laurel and Hardy have always been my favorite. I got my first Laurel and Hardy china dolls when I was about 14. (Mom bought them for me) I used to collect all the comedy teams but I decided to concentrate on one team. Since Laurel and Hardy are my favorite, I chose to collect them.

I collected a few items now and then, but didn't really start in earnest until I went into the Air Force in 1987. A lot of the items I bought off of Ebay until I went to England in Oct 1994. Almost every village you go to in England has L&H items. I also went to a lot of Antique and Collectors Fairs and almost always found something.

A funny incident: I lived in the dormitory while in England. We used to have room inspections every few months. My room got rather full of L&H items. I had so much there was only a walkway through the room. No open space. One time our new First Sergeant came through my room for the first time. He told me that I had too much stuff. I told him that everything was neat and nothing caused a fire hazard, etc. He said that he would bring the Commander in and let her decide. Well when the Commander came in, she loved it!! She told the First Sergeant that nothing was wrong with my room and to basically to leave me alone. From that time on, my room became a show place for all the visiting VIPs. (Of course the First Sergeant was not too pleased with me!) One of my Commanders even gave me a L&H statue for "letting a lot of strange people come through your room".

While in England I got to do a lot of traveling. I found some marionette puppets in Prague, a set of glass blown figures in Venice and VHS tapes in Holland. (as you know, with L&H, you know what's going on even if you can't understand the language) I left England in Oct 2003.

My next station was in Louisiana. I bought a few more things, but my collection was rather large. I didn't have enough room for everything. L&H were everywhere. When I retired from the Air Force, I decided that the collection would be "confined" to one room in my new house. That room is full. I was able to sell a few items but there is not a big market for them around here. I wanted the boys to have a nice home and I knew that you could give them one. :) And that's how they came to you.

And that's the history of my Laurel and Hardy collection. If you have any questions, let me know.

Thank you for giving the boys a good home.

Laura

Web posted Sunday, June 07, 2009 - Columbia County News Times

(click link below to go directly to newspaper article)

Laurel and Hardy Museum receives new items

The Laurel and Hardy Museum of Harlem desperately needs more room thanks to the generous donation of a fan of the comedic pair.

Laura Sherfick helps unpack some of the more than 200 items she is donating to the Laurel and Hardy Museum in Harlem. She collected most of her items in England, where she spent nine years in the military. Laura Sherfick recently drove from her home in Madisonville, Ky., to deliver about 200 items of Laurel and Hardy memorabilia to the museum. "This is quite a collection," said museum volunteer Linda Bailey. "It is huge. ... We're trying to expand. We need to." The collection includes lots of figurines and statues, movie posters and numbered Laurel and Hardy prints, among other items.

Sherfick said she paid more than $6,600 for the items. Sherfick, who recently retired from the military, spent nine years in England, where she collected most of the items. Stan Laurel's hometown of Ulverston, England, also boasts a museum in his honor. She'd visited that museum a few times, and collected memorabilia from the many villages in England that sell Laurel and Hardy items. Sherfick said she'd heard of Harlem building a museum and knew once she returned to America she wanted to visit. After contacting the museum about the donation, her first visit was to deliver it and help unpack some of the items.

"I moved and I don't have room," Sherfick said. "I decided that what I had was going to go in one room and this was the spillover. I'd rather (the museum) have it than anyplace else." Though it was hard to part with her memorabilia, Sherfick said she kept many of her favorites items, including statues and figurines, playing cards and even a Laurel and Hardy-themed Jack-In-the-Box. "You pull Hardy's tie and Laurel pops out," Sherfick said. For museum volunteers, the donation is a great asset. Most people who make donations do so only a few items at a time. "It is like Christmas for Laurel and Hardy nuts," said Gary Russeth, a member of the Berth Marks, Harlem's chapter of the international Laurel and Hardy appreciation society.

"I think she should be given a membership into the Berth Marks," he said.