I think you are right, and I have seen this with other natural history type
hobbies. I am also involved in our local Lapidary (rockhounds) Club and it is a
major concern to the members of this club and others on this continent that
younger people are not being recruited into the hobby. At 39 years old I am one
of the youngest members by a wide margin. This sounds extremely macabre, but
notices of members passing away are more common than notices of new members, and
(this sounds really terrible) but one of the best sources of equipment and
supplies has been the estates of members that have passed on. I wish it wasn't
so. Younger people need to learn all they can in their respective hobbies from
older members, or much will be lost, and have to be newly discovered at a later
date, if ever again.
In my judgment the Conchologists tend to be more scientifically oriented than
rockhounds. Rockhounds these days seem to focus more on the lapidary crafts and
not on mineralogy, but the work of experienced craftsmen is often stunning. I
can't comment on what a meeting of a typical shell-collecting club meeting would
be like since there isn't one where I live, but I can comment on some rockhounding
meetings I have attended. There are some things that I would like to suggest to
my own rock-hounding club based on my own observations as a younger member. They
all have to do with what clubs offer members. I will list them here for you.
They may or may not apply to your Shell Club(based on some spectacular web-sites,
some clubs are clearly very prestigious and valuable entities), but I throw them
out anyway:
1. Never lose sight of what matters to junior members, young or old. This is what
keeps them coming until it becomes a "way of life" for them. New members are
mostly interested in learning about the hobby, from the experts, the older
members. The main things that clubs should always offer are i) workshops on
techniques ii) interesting, hobby-related talks during meetings with some "meat
on the bones", iii) field trips if possible, and iv) some type of hobby-related
newsletter if possible. Not all clubs are large and could carry such a full
agenda, but the main thing is to provide a comfortable learning environment that
suits the group size.
2. Presentations on hobby related topics at club meetings should be the number
one priority on the agenda. The "business" part of a club meeting should be
brief. Talks should also have some meat on the bones. It is better to have a
slightly more scientific calibre than some people can fully absorb than an empty
talk where no one learns anything.
3. It is not primarily a social club. Most new members want basic information
and hands-on experience. In my club the older people have been close friends for
years, and done all the trips, taken all the courses etc etc. There is a trend
towards social gatherings rather than true hobby-related activities. This will
not attract new members. If a club is good and meets the needs of new members,
they will keep coming back, then they will make friends, and the club will have a
more social aspect for them as they mature into the club culture.
4. The workshops hosted by club-members at my club are the main reason I am even
still a member. I am learning skills from the experts that I could never hope to
tackle on my own. Never underestimate the importance of this to new members.
5. Consider offering talks to schools, or maybe even an introductory night twice
a year to drum up enthusiam. Some libraries and other institutions may let you
put up displays. There seems to be a real drop in the average person's knowledge
about anything to do with Natural History these days. I suspect that there is a
big drop in priority on these topics in schools with so much technology competing
for curriculum time. We need to drum up enthusiasm in our own communities.
6. Gone are the days when collecting sites were plentiful and unrestricted. It
gets harder and harder and more expensive to do things. Individuals and clubs
need to keep abreast of regulations affecting the hobby and possibly keep an
active voice at the appropriate government level to help safeguard their
interests. I know lots of shell clubs have a strong presence in this area. We
can't drop the ball.
This is getting long, better wrap it up now.
Nora Bryan
Calgary, Alberta
CANADA
Ankistro Desmus wrote:
> I've been wondering if the hobby of shell collecting is gentrifying. It seems
> that there are few young collectors and as such the hobby will decline as pre-
> Baby Boomer and Baby Boomer collectors either stop collecting, sell their
> collections, or pass away. It seems the same may be true for other
> "classical" collecting hobbies such as stamps, coins and currency. Is my
> perception accurate or am I way off base?
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