[meteorite-list] Article about Nininger in MAPS

[al mitterling]

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 élan,  [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