A new museum exhibit for the summer features George Herter's sporting goods catalogs that were popular nationwide decades ago. The exhibit includes several of the items featured in his catalogs.
The Nolan Center has a new summer exhibit to engage both locals and cruise ship visitors: The display celebrates the legendary sporting goods entrepreneur George Herter.
Herter's sporting goods catalogs were the Sears Christmas Wish Book, Field and Stream and the ads on the back of comics books all rolled into one.
The cover of the 1965 catalog claims to be the "authentic world source for hunters, fisherman, guides, gunsmiths, law enforcement officers, tackle makers, forest rangers, commercial fishermen, trappers and explorers."
Bill Bahleda, the Wrangell resident who put together the display, remembers poring over the color plates of fishing flies, gunstocks, snowmachines and air rifles as a child. In fact, the lure of the Herter's catalog was how he learned to read.
The exhibit includes a number of catalogs, opened to pages with the actual items from Bahleda's collection displayed alongside.
He remembers placing his first order when he was 9 years old, for fly-tying equipment. On the back cover was a shipping-by-mail map of the U.S., with the warehouse in Waseca, Minnesota, at the center, and expanding rings indicating increased shipping costs by area. To his young eyes, however, it made Waseca, and all things Herter, the center of the world.
Bahleda owned a fly-fishing pro shop, The Troutpost, in Michigan from 1988-1993. He initially had a one-shelf display of the entrepreneur's vises, which led to customers bringing in their own items - soon it became a collection.
Bahleda's collection includes a wide range of items related to hunting and fishing. There are also several books written by Herter, which reflect his quirky character, like "How to Get Out of the Rat Race and Live on $10 a Month," and "George the Housewife: How to Diet and Never Be Hungry."
One cookbook included the notation: "The Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ, was very fond of spinach."
He was an early king of hokum, claiming many of his products were endorsed by the North Star Guides Association, an organization that doesn't exist. But people loved reading those claims and outlandish stories, and bought his stuff.
Herter's business fortunes were affected by the Gun Control Act of 1968, which prevented firearms from being bought and sold by mail, and federal bans on the importation of some bird feather species he used for fly tying.
He went bankrupt in 1981, but his brand lives on: Cabela's bought it and customers can still order an assortment of his branded gear and ammunition through its catalog. Many of the Africa and Alaska mounts on display in Cabela's stores are Herter's own trophies.
Bahleda thought a display of the memorabilia would be a good summer fit for the Nolan Center, as it is a focus for many cruise ship visitors who are of an age to remember the excitement of the catalog.
Herter and his wife, Bertha, themselves regularly visited Alaska for years, which is reflected in the display: a soapstone walrus carving is a souvenir from one of their visits. Herter died in 1994, and Bahleda purchased the carving from the estate.
A Sports Afield writer summed up George Herter by calling him "a dazzling mixture of bamboozle and brains, snake oil and savvy."
The display will be at the Nolan Center throughout the summer months.
The writer of this story is the spouse of Bill Bahleda, who put together the museum display.
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