More than ten years ago now, I was introduced to the
writings of Dr. Robert. W. “Doc” Oelslager.
I had stumbled across a PDF copy of his Bushcraft, Scouting &
Woodlore: Notes, Vol. I, it was full of all sorts on interesting tidbits on
outdoor life and woods lore. I was
enthralled!
 |
The Forward from Bushcraft, Scouting &
Woodlore: Notes, Vol. I
Since the title ended with the words “Vol. I”, I
assumed that there must be a Volume II, and so I began a search for the elusive
Dr. R. W. Oelslager. In 2008, an
internet search for someone was not as easily done as it is today, especially
since I only knew his first initial and not his whole first name.
I got lucky and I found an address that I thought
might work, and so I drafted a letter and mailed it out with hope and crossed
fingers, on May 23, 2008. Then I waited
and waited so more. You see unknown to
me, while I had mailed my message in a bottle to the right address, Dr. Robert
W. Oelslager was suffering from Alzheimers and my letter sat on his desk, as
neither he nor his wife knew what to do with it. It wasn’t until 2009, that I received a
message back from his son, Robert J. Oelslager.
Robert J. Oelslager informed that his Father was not
well and had been moved to an assisted living facility at about the same time
that I had written to him. He wrote me “Dad was never intent on making a lot of
money with the book, his greater concern was that the book GETS USED. It was intended to be a resource for
Scouters, Scouts and outdoorsmen alike.
He felt the information should be put into practice and passed on.” He also informed me that his father had been
called “Doc” for the 55 years that he had been active with the Boy Scouts.
I promised him that I would do my best to make sure
that his Father’s writings were passed on and he sent me, six volumes of his
Father’s writings. He also let me know
that Dr. Robert William “Doc” Oelslager had lost his battle with Alzheimers on
February 14, 2010.
Ten years ago, blogging was in its infancy, quite
honestly even having a website was cutting edge, and I didn’t know how to go
about keeping my promise. The years came
and went and so did personal tragedies and my promise remained unfilled.
I am happy to say that today I know how to keep my
promise to Robert J. Oelslager and will begin to publish his Father’s works on
my blog page under the label “The Oelslager Files”. I hope that Scouters, Scouts and outdoorsman
alike all get all of the same enjoyment, entertainment and education that I
have.
Sources:
Dr. Robert. W. Oelslager, Bushcraft, Scouting &
Woodlore: Notes, Vol. I, Privately Published
I look forward to reading "Docs" other works and notes! Thank you for carrying on his knowledge and legacy.
ReplyDeleteThank you and sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I will be publishing more of "Docs" thoughts in future posts, so please keep coming back
ReplyDeleteHI Eric! A pleasant and interesting read! However, I am unable to find the 6 volumes of notes on your blog. Do you know where I can find them? Thanks so much!
ReplyDelete- Jann Lim, Catholic High Scout Group (Ventures Unit), Singapore
Hello Jann,
DeleteUnfortunately Doc never published his works, I have seen some returns off the internet that make think he gave some copies away (more below). I am very grateful that his son sent me the six unpublished volumes, apparently there were some left in a box after his Father had passed. I don't have permission to scan the volumes in their entirety. I did a quick search for Bushcraft, Scouting & Woodlore Notes and found this link for Volume 1, https://archive.org/details/OelslagerR.W.BushcraftScoutingAndWoodloreNotes I hope that this helps some. If you search for "R. W. Oelslager" you might find some other hits. Until next time , Happy Trails!
Hi Eric and Jann! This is R.J. Oelslager and my father was Doc. I draw a tear everytime I see what Eric is doing on his blog and with the Oelslager Files. Eric, You Absolutely have expressed permission to recreate and to share in any format my fathers writings. I look forward to more and more people enjoying the craft that he (and I) loved so much. After everything you and I have been through to get this far, you deserve the carte blanche of Doc's writings. Jann, Thank you for those kind words! Happy trails!
Delete""his son sent me the six unpublished volumes" Why the hell aren't these 6 posted unpublished volumes uploaded to archive.com like Vol 1 is so EVERYONE can download them.? Instead you posted them to YOUR website and force every one to go to your website (and lots of clicks) and I looked everywhere for a download link but could not find one. This is OPPOSITE to what the writer wanted. Shame the hell on you. UPLOAD each of the unpublished volumes his son gave you to archive.org and make them available to download on your personal website. Shame on you Eric Renolds.
ReplyDeleteWow! There is a lot packed into your comment, Meadow. Let’s take a moment to unpack it, shall we.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, Meadow, I am sorry that you were inconvenienced and disappointed. And you did have a good point about archive.org, it would be an excellent repository for Dr. Oelslager’s works.
Let us keep aware that even though I received Dr. Oelslager’s volumes of work about ten years ago, I only received explicit permission from his heirs to make it public about a year and 3 months ago. Digitizing these works has been and still is on my list of things to achieve and the fact that it hasn’t been achieved comes down to two things, capital, and time.
I operate on a shoestring budget and currently just do not have the capital to invest in this project. Meadow, perhaps you would like to donate to this project to get it started? I am willing to donate my time to unbind them and take them to a copy shop to be scanned into a quality PDF, which I estimate will cost about $75.00 per volume (there are actually five volumes, not six, I miscounted), what about you, are you willing to contribute?
And then there is the time factor, I am flattered that you think that I am a professional blogger, however I am not. I still have a Monday to Friday job, that due to the economics of the world that we live in, must come first. Also, and unfortunately, articles and videos don’t just magically appear fully finished and complete. I made a commitment to my readers to publish one excellent and fully researched article each week and one excellent and fully researched video each month. This requires somewhere between 10 to 15 hours, or more sometimes, per article or video.
Besides writing and squeezing in the odd video, I also teach classes and I am a wilderness guide, both take a considerable amount of time and planning before the trip is taken or the class is taught, not to mention the time spent teaching or guiding. Oh, and since I have a family, I do try to have a little bit of life outside of all my endeavors.
So, in the end, Meadow, you will either have to be patient and accept that I will digitize Dr. Oelslager’s life works as soon as I can, or you can donate and kickstart the project. Your choice.