Four Pillars and a Pair of Wings - the Twin Pillars

One of the things I was happiest at seeing in Nancy Kelly's new book Exploring the Model Horse Hobby was that she included three women who are often overlooked as founders of our hobby. Indeed, in my opinion, two of them ARE the hobby founders and we will look at them today.

Back in the 1960s, there were collectors but we had no internet to gather us and were mostly unaware of each other. I had two collector friends and we used to throw our models into grocery bags, sling them over the handlebars of our bikes, and pedal to each other's homes for an afternoon of showing. (Go here to read a more detailed post on that.)

Long distance phone calls (calls made outside of your immediate town and community) were very expensive and not a practical option for connecting with other hobbyists. But we did have snail mail (simply called "mail" back then) and that is how we began to connect with one another, always enclosing a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) for a reply.

Ellen Hitchins and Simone Smiljanic (called Simi at the time) started the very first photo showing club and asked Horse and Rider magazine's editor Ray Rich to judge their annual championship show. Rich agreed and then published this article about his experience in 1970.

I've kept my copy of the magazine and the article in my hobby memorabilia ever since it was published!

I was a subscriber to Horse and Rider, and that article provided my first connection to collectors outside of my local circle of friends and to the beginnings of the formalizing hobby. And I was not the only person for whom this was the entry point - the clubs and photo shows began growing, sales lists were requested and sent, sire and dam lists were drawn up (with stud fees of a dime or so), and newsletters were typed. (I formed and ran ABMHSA, All Breeds Model Horse Showers Association, from 1972-1975, passing the club on when I went off to college.) They were heady times, and every day when I got home from school I would find I'd gotten mail - hobby business to attend to. (Before homework, of course!)

Due to their work in gathering the earliest collectors into the exciting new hobby of model horses, I have always credited Ellen Hitchins and Simi Smiljanic as the founders of the formalized hobby. Their leadership drew together all these pockets of collectors from across the country (and later the world) into the group we now simply refer to as "the hobby."

These ladies are twin pillars and definitely the hobby's "grandmothers."

Tomorrow's blog post - Marney Walerius, the third pillar. 

The Hobby's Early Beginnings - IMPHSA

While people had been collecting model horses since Hartland and Breyer began making them, and small backyard/bedroom/family room live shows had been happening on an informal basis in the 1960s, it was Ellen Hitchins and Simone (Simi, at the time) who started the first formal hobby organization.

Called IMPHSA (International Model Photo Showers Association), it bridged the distance between collectors by using the ingenious idea of photo showing models - taking pictures of them, writing the model's name, your name and address, and the classes it was to be entered in on the back, and then sending the photos along with a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) to the show holder. The photos would be placed in their respective classes and judged, then returned with ribbons and awards by using the SASE. (Generally, we included an extra stamp or two to cover any extra postage that was needed.)

Ellen and Simi had the brilliant idea of asking Ray Rich, an editor at Horse and Rider magazine, to judge their international championship photo show. Their idea, and Rich's agreement to judge, would lead to my introduction to the infant hobby and for many other people as well.

I had been a subscriber to Horse and Rider since buying my first issue at Hook's Drug Store in West Lafayette.

My first issue - I read and reread and reread this copy (as you can probably tell.) I loved it so much, and had just gotten my first horse, Amy, in February of 1970 that I immediately subscribed.  And I am so glad I did because it helped me find the other early hobbyists. 

Although, when I opened that October issue and scanned its table of contents, I had no idea that it would change my collecting for a lifetime.

Breyers, Hagen Renakers, Beswicks, and Hartlands were represented. There were eight classes, and six were published in the magazine. I already had the Adios and Hartland, but had never seen a Hagen Renaker or Beswick before. (Ellen's Appaloosa Beswick became a piece I sought after for years, finally buying one in the 1990s.)

Eight classes! And they were very broad based - English and Western Pleasure, Foals, Pleasure Model, Mares, and Stallions. I wonder what the other two classes were? And just think about today's classes. Can you imagine just having eight at your championship show?

As I said in an earlier post, Ellen and Simi deserve far more credit than they are given for being so pivotal to the foundation of our hobby. This 1970 article is proof of that.

The Passing of a Long Time Hobbyist

The formalized, organized model horse hobby had its beginning in the late 1960s when Ellen Hitchins and Simone (Simi, back then) Smiljanic organized their club,  IMPHSA (International Model Photo Horse Show Association.) While backyard/in-home shows had been going on for some time, and collecting model horses had been, too, it was these two women who really made the hobby happen by pulling early collectors together from across the country (and later, the world) into organized hobby clubs.

I started collecting in 1963 and had done in-home live shows with my two friends, Carol and Bobbie, in the 1960s, but I still remember that heady feeling of discovering that there were other people like the three of us who were doing the same thing, and that I could join them by taking pictures of my horses and mailing them to shows. Such fun days those were!

Fast forward fifty odd years or so and many of us who were part of that scene are still here. But, we are aging, and the hobby has begun to lose some of its earliest members. Ellen passed away some time ago as did Marney. Simi is still with us but has serious health issues. (She is still active in Facebook hobby groups, though.)

Very recently we lost another early hobby member, one who customized and made beautiful tack. Carol Howard passed away in March.

Carol and I are both members of the same faith - Mormons. There are a fair number of us in the hobby, and that double bond of religious beliefs coupled with our love of model horses has made for some wonderful friendships.

Carol made contributions to the early hobby that continued on to current times. She will be missed.