Mitchell Reel Collectors Chronicles (MRCC)

[jtwill98]

I probably spend more time than I should gathering information about Mitchell Reels and the history of the reel's development. Some of the effort has me digging through sites that no longer exist. One of these was the subject of this writing MRCC, a "Collective works for collectors by collectors". Here are 3 images that I managed to grab some screen shots. The first 2 screen shots are from an article Dennis Roberts authored. The last screen shot is a book Dennis Roberts created and distributed to serious collectors that I assume he consulted and were close friends.

I have two questions.
1) Is there someone amongst the forum members who may have received the book by Dennis Roberts title Mitchell printed in 2007 seen below?
2) Because the articles on the site have historical value, is there a way to preserve the information here. I have most of the articles captured through printing into PDF files.

Send me a PM if you have thoughts on how best to preserve the historical data from the site. I am willing to share the articles, photos and other information as long as I know it will be preserved intact.

[Altex]

The book that you show by Dennis Roberts is a 2 volume set of which 12 copies were produced for friends of Dennis. It was never offered for sale by DR. It was intended to be a living 3 volume set, but this never happened.

I am fortunate to own one set, which originally belonged to Barry Frewing.

A good part of the content appeared in the value guide which Dennis produced.

My contact with many collectors over the last few years confirms what DR suggests which is that most collecting of Mitchell reels is an extension of an interest in fishing. Most Mitchell collecting appears to be nostalgia or user based. This might explain why there is little interest in the earliest reels or Mitchell history. In most areas of collecting the earliest items are the most desirable : one only has to think of first edition books. Fishing tackle tends to be different. When I started in the hobby, my first purchases were from the early 70's when I bought my first 300. The collector in me quickly took over and I became fascinated by the early reels.

[jtwill98]

@Altex, You are either very lucky or well connected to have 1 copy of the Dennis Robert's volume set entitled "Mitchell".

For those who may be interested, here is a list of the articles with dates from MRCC.

• Mitchell Reel Collecting As An Art Form.pdf - 3/5/2011
  Mitchell’s Original 498.pdf - 1/22/2011
  Mitchell’s Unique Threesome, 302N-386 & B50.pdf - 11/29/2010
  Mitchell’s Hybrid “Wedding Cake”.pdf - 10/24/2010
  Mitchell Reel Collecting Perspective.pdf - 9/19/2010
  Mitchell’s 308A Review.pdf - 7/13/2010
  Mitchell’s Aftermarket Tournament Casters.pdf - 7/3/2010
  Is a spool just a spool_ Not to Mitchell Collectors.pdf - 6/1/2010
  Modified Mitchell Reels For Competition.pdf - 5/31/2010
  Lubricants & Greases For Your Mitchell Reel.pdf 4/25/2010
  Accuracy Casters.pdf - 4/14/2010
  300 PRO-Matic.pdf - 3/25/2010
  Mitchell Models 308/358/408/508 Bail Spring Ultra-Lite Replacement Guide.pdf - 2/11/2010
  402 Saltwater Reel.pdf - 2/10/2010
  Mitchell’s “Wedding Cake” Tournament Reel.pdf - 1/10/2010
  First Issue Tournament Casters.pdf - 1/10/2019
  Reel Collecting Primer.pdf - 12/30/2009

[GreatLaker]

jtwill98,
I'm a little confused by your post in that you say you are "...digging through sites that no longer exist.". Do you mean that the web site is gone and you are digging through information you gathered from these sites when they were active?
Did you find a now non-existent site that was called, Mitchell Reel Collectors Chronicles which was a "Collective works for collectors by collectors" ?

Regarding your two questions, there are several members who have mentioned they own all the works by Dennis Roberts in former posts.
I am not sure I understand what you mean when you say, "2) Because the articles on the site have historical value, is there a way to preserve the information here." Which site are you referring to and which articles have historical value?

Kind Regards,
Bill

[GreatLaker]

jtwill98,
OK now I see the list of articles.
I don't know about anyone else but I would very much like to read each and every one of those articles. Just curious, might any of them be copyrighted? Also, you don't mention the author's names and I am wondering if the authors use their on-line names instead of their real names?
Kind Regards,
Bill

[jtwill98]

@GreatLaker, You may have heard mention of the Internet Archives WayBackMachine. It is mentioned occasionally and casually by the media. It is thru this path that I've come across the information.

The site went offline sometime in 2016 as I saw a message that the site was temporarily down when I was exploring. I understand Dennis passed on in 2016, so it makes sense that the site went offline when the contract with the website provider expired.

Many of the articles were authored by Dennis, but they are a few by other authors.

Because the information is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), I am reluctant to distribute the information. Both to protect myself and this site. I can however, provide the URL (https://web.archive.org/web/20120809062 ... age_id=746) where one can find the information.

I'm also providing the URL to the Internet Archive's Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Copyright Policy (https://archive.org/about/terms.php).

As you navigate the site on the Internet Archives, you'll experience many delays and some content won't be available. The content that's not available is because the web crawler the archive uses wasn't able to archive those items for one of many reason.

[Simplex]

Being one of the 12 recipients of this book, I am lucky to have it at home. Dennis was a great man with whom I exchanged many messages on the internet, unfortunately without ever meeting him physically. The site he hosted in collaboration with Luc de Medts and Larry Carlucci was a remarkable source of information

[fishugo]

fwiw, have posted photo of a Pre-Garcia 1/2 bale ca

674E470A-DA1D-4191-88CD-3424E5B13084.jpeg (402.5 KiB) Viewed 8950 times

1951 owned by Thomas Lent.
It has “Chas G” deeply scratched on footplate.

[fishugo]

My hunch is this reel with all its oddities is a lab rat.