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ANTIQUARIAN HOLOGRAPHICA by Frank DeFreitas It is one-hundred years into the future. The scene is a memorabilia show dealing with antiques and collectibles from the late 20th century: rare and first edition books, period maps, lithographs, furniture, personal computers (does your internal bio memory crystal remember those?), and a host of other items, etc. In other words, your "typical" memorabilia gathering. However, in a corner at the end of a long aisle is a booth dealing exclusively with holography-related collectibles. Our imaginary booth has quite a selection -- embossed holograms (both commercial and artistic); a copy of the famous National Geographic cover with the American Eagle; signatures of the early movers and shakers in the field; posters and exhibit catalogs from early international shows; first-edition copies of many out-of-print books on holography (yes books will still be around), postcards, equipment catalogs, advertising . . . and a real attention-getter: an actual HeNe laser that still works . . . that is, if you can find a place that still uses what used to be called electricity for power! What an incredible day . . . and what an incredible crowd! Our little scenario is not that far-fetched. Many of the items related to holography that we once passed over as insignificant, stuffed into our desk drawers and filing cabinets (or worse yet, thrown away), are now looked upon as period pieces worthy of collection. Those individuals who, way back when, decided to hold 'em, not fold 'em are the long forgotten heros. Without them, ALL would have been lost. Since we can be fairly certain that we won't be around to attend our little imaginary convention one hundred years from now, why not make the most of the time that we do have by attempting to put together an impressive collection of future holographic memoribilia? Yes! YOU can be tomorrow's holography heritage hero by making sure that today's historical pieces make it into the future for others. I receive email on a regular basis from visitors to this web site and many of those persons are asking for specific information relating to collecting. One person asked for information concerning a specific embossed hologram and how to acquire one for their "collection". Another, from Europe, spoke of their pride in the collection of books and other printed materials -- all related to holography -- but added that they were concerned that it was not complete. "Could it be", I wondered, "that collecting holographic-related items was catching on around the globe?" The answer to that appears to be in the affirmative: Yes, there is collecting going on, and the real surprise is that it may yet prove to be the most active aspect of the field. There appears to be a "fever" that goes hand-in-hand with the art of collecting . . . collectors can sometime go through extreme trouble searching out materials. And nowhere are those materials more new and exciting than with holography. For a field celebrating only a few decades of existence (the first hologram was created in the early 1960's), there is a multitude of collecting possibilites including books and related articles that extend much further back in time than just a few decades. There is a rich history, and many centuries of art and science behind it -- some of it extending back into the 16th and 17th centuries! All of it relating to holography today. This section of my website is devoted to what I call Antiquarian Holographica*: Searching out the holograms and other early ephemera, from around the world, to add to ones personal collection of holographic "future" memorabilia. The mission of this section is to provide a solid foundation for starting your own archive on holography -- for future generations who will look back in time not only through the eyes of a collector, but through a "keeper" of Antiquarian Holographica. * All text originally from a 1988 Holo-Gram newsletter issue entitled "Antiquarian Holographica", and updated for use today on the web.
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