May
28, 1992
Dear
Mr Plant:
Many
but belated thanks for sending me a copy of your Further
notes on jungle fowls and Pacific, which arrived here in mid-February. I
am still not fully organized with work stations at home, and things tend to
get buried. Bit by bit I am getting caught up and getting things arranged in
an orderly way.
I
am especially pleased to have copies of the de Vries and Castellò papers from
the 7th World’s Poultry Congress. For
whatever reasons, I have never been able to locate those proceedings despite
searching many libraries in Canada and elsewhere. They are both papers that
are historically important. I enjoyed the long series by Elliot Kimball. He
was indeed a character. He appeared on the poultry genetics scene when I was
first starting out, and I heard him speak once. He upset many apple carts.
Some of his work has withstood the test of time but much of it bas not. He
suddenly seemed to lose interest in poultry, and plunged into crystallography
where he made similar waves. And then he died at a relatively young age. He
apparently made his living as a ghostwriter for magazines such as Saturday
Evening Post. I also thoroughly enjoyed the very long series of letters and
articles by George Carter. I tried two years ago to meet up with him, without
success, but still hope to arrange a visit sometime. He continues to write to
me occasionally insisting that he has evidence for pre-Columbian chicken
bones; I hope his book will be published soon and that I get to read it.
I
am revisiting the pre-Columbian controversy yet again. This time as the
Inaugural Lecture for the World Meeting
on Domestic Animal Breeds Related to the Discovery of America to be
held in Cordoba, Spain in September/92. That stuff is sheer fun but still not
adequately proven to my mind. My health continues to improve, and I continue
to crank out written things. I was to a meeting of FAO in Rome in April to
give a paper about poultry conservation needs in Third World countries. I
completed yet another poultry history chapter for a forthcoming book on the
world’s poultry industry. And have started work on a chapter for a new book
on Canadian animal agriculture - history of both livestock and poultry this
time. I hope you are well and able to continue with your work. I Would
appreciate hearing from you.
Best
wishes.
Roy
Crawford