ARCHIVES & HISTORY COMMISSION

President Betty "Boo" Thornton

Why Establish An Archive ?

There is both a need and an obligation for society to preserve experiences, histories, memorabilia, and fellowships of corporations, organizations large and small, as well as families.

All forms of documentation, correspondence, records, photographs, newspaper, and magazine articles of past years should be collected and preserved. Documenting the existence of such entities from birth to death ensures that the history of such entities are available for study by researchers, historians, sociologists, scholars or anyone interested in viewing

their files.

Eighteen years after its incorporation the Buffalo Troopers Motorcycle Club of Chicago is floundering on the brink of never having existed at all.  There are many stories of the past that are not known because they were never written and kept for generations of the future to examine. Stories of the BTMC will be elusive in that the vaults of its archives are for the most part bare due to the absence of an archivist who would ensure the filing and safe keeping of club documents, photographs, manuscripts etc.  

The establishment of the Buffalo Troopers Motorcycle Club's Archives confirms what we already know: Bikers revel in their past. But once we sail beyond the obvious - Harley-Davidson, Honda, Sturgis, the Black Rodeo - BSMC & BTMC the bulk of the sport's long and still-evolving stories are easy to overlook. It's a history we're in danger of losing if we who are actively living it don't just as actively work to preserve it.

This is our history. and for now, it's our living history , remembered by people who read about it on the Internet, in the newspapers instead of the history

books, and watched it happen from their front porches instead of documentaries on the History Channel. For now, it's our living history because it occurred within the time-frame of our existence. One by one, we will lose these first-hand accounts. Losing them to the dignity of Alzheimer's and dementia, and to the cold silence of death. Once they're gone their voices will be silenced forever however, their documented words and deeds will live on.

All of the recorded history of the world was written by those who remembered it, wrote it down or retold it, and passed it on. What are in the memories of the BTMC that no one else knows?  So that we are not forgotten when we're gone we must document our existence and experiences, leaving a rich legacy for others to read about once we're gone, no one else will.