Harold Porter has a 25-year-old dream that sounds simple, but he hasn't made much headway in seeing it become a reality in his home state.
Except for at the State of Maine Sportsman's Show, held this year from March 31 to April 2.
In two weeks Porter will have his collection of antique camp stoves and lanterns on display at the annual outdoor show in the Augusta Civic Center, and lines of campers, fishermen, hikers and hunters will pass along his table viewing his unusual assemblage, of which he is justly proud.
It's a humble but well-archived collection. But Porter would like to see it on a grand scale here in Maine, a state where outdoor sports are a mainstay and tourists come to enjoy the woods and waters.
"I'm really disappointed the state doesn't have a hunting, fishing and camping museum," Porter said. "Of course, anything with the state, they don't have money for it. I've tried to plant the seed for 15 to 20 years."
The Maine State Museum in Augusta rarely has antique hunting and fishing equipment on display, as it did with a duck exhibit the past two months.
John Otis at the Maine State Museum said the hunting exhibit was the museum's first in more than 20 years, even though it has hunting and fishing equipment in storage.
Porter said he'd like to see Maine follow other states' lead and create an outdoor museum.
Like the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wis., which Porter has visited. Or the Coleman Museum in Wichita, Kan., where he also has been.
The Fishing Hall of Fame in Wisconsin is considered a "Shrine to Anglers," and is a true fishing coliseum. It's a structure one-half of a city block long and four stories tall in the likeness of a muskie. (The open mouth of the leaping fish/building is an observation deck).
Maybe it's good we don't have such "shrines" here in Maine.
Although, one might fit in well beside the giant Paul Bunyan along Main Street in Bangor.
Porter has been collecting lanterns, fishing tackle and camp stoves for 25 years.
Born in Houlton, Porter has lived around Maine, and traveled to antique shows and flea markets around the state, where he adds to his antique collection.
Porter said last year he had hundreds stop by his table, from folks who recalled seeing their grandfather's camping stoves, to campers who enjoyed comparing the old with the new.
"I was hoarding these in my house all year. I wanted to get them and show them to the public. This was my opportunity," Porter said.
Those who have seen Porter's antique camping equipment have marvelled at it.
"He does have some really neat stuff, and it's great for people to be able to see the Coleman products and gear that our grandparents used," said Justin Kane, the seminar coordinator at Kittery Trading Post.
Porter's collection also has been on display at the Sebago ice fishing Derbyfest, the Kittery Trading Post Septemberfest and the store's Derbyfest, said Kane.
Coleman's collection includes a camp stove from 1872, and a Coleman table lamp called a Kero-lite that is one of just 5,000 ever made. That came from a barn in Canada.
At the Sportsman's Show he will have on display a 1920 frying pan, a 75-year-old collapsible water pail, the first Coleman collar made in 1954, and ice fishing equipment from 1895.
"(The ice fishing trap) is probably similar to what is used today. The device holds the wire differently," Porter said.
He has a three-burner 1941 Coleman stove that was rare, because it was made at the end of World War II.
"During the war, they were using metal for other reasons," Porter said.
To the camping neophyte, the stoves have the look of an age long gone because of the extra accessories.
In 1920, the pump for the fuel tank was not built in, but rather a hand pump, like the pumps used for basketballs.
As a member of the International Coleman Collector's Club, Porter travels around the United States to conventions, where Coleman collectors from as far away as England and Japan trade with him.
Porter's display will be on the first floor of the Civic Center with the outdoor art at the Sportsman's Show.
OUTDOORS: Deirdre Fleming
Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
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