After finally clearing out an individual's collection following his death, I had a lot of papers to go through. Receipts, copies of letters; mostly stuff that was meant for recycling. One thing I saved from almost going there was a complete 472 page unpublished manuscript of a pilot with the 314th Fighter Squadron. It is a photocopy of his typed manuscript but it never went to print. He died in 1995.

 

I'm torn as to what to do with it. I haven't read it, but sure it has a wonderful amount of history. Like I said, it's 472 pages so it's not a weekend read anyway! This post is not a "for sale" post but wondering if there is a market for unpublished manuscripts.

 

Any advice would definitely be appreciated!

 

Mike

Should be a nice read.

 

From the looks of the address, he lived about 10 miles from me.

Thats a lot of research ! I bet it would be intresting...

Should be a nice read.

 

From the looks of the address, he lived about 10 miles from me.

LOL. So much for blocking out his name. I completely missed that one.

 

Oh well,

 

Mike

Not overly unusual for vets to write a memoir in the modern era.

 

I like stuff like this... You never know for sure how many copies are floating around...

Publishing someone else's manuscript can open a can of worms.

 

While I'm not a great proponent of donating collectible items to museums, I'd consider donating this one to the Air Force Museum (https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Collections/Donate-an-Item/)

You also might consider donating it to the Museum of Flight in Seattle since he's from that area.

If it went to a museum it would probably be placed in their archives and may only ever be seen by a couple of people. You could try to get in contact with his family and see what they would like to do with it. Or, try to get it printed so it is available to the general public and donate any profits to a veterans organization.

 

Mac

I've edited and had a couple of veteran's accounts published, nothing book length though. It wouldn't surprise me if a some of the aviation authors on the forum didn't reach out to you.

If it went to a museum it would probably be placed in their archives and may only ever be seen by a couple of people. You could try to get in contact with his family and see what they would like to do with it. Or, try to get it printed so it is available to the general public and donate any profits to a veterans organization.

 

Mac

Yep, it would probably never see the light of day.

The squadron is currently active at Holloman AFB in New Mexico, Contact the Adjutant - they might be interested in having a copy or publishing it. Lots of info vis Google.

Mike

 

I just sent you a PM on this. I would love a copy of this for the 324th FG association's files. Marvin was an active association member when he was alive.

 

Best

 

D