Many of you will probably know me from MBSI, NAWCC and BHI activities.
I see in searching the MMD Archives that my web site has been noted,
http://www.delectra.com/jporter ; on that site are descriptions of my
early research into the Jaquet-Droz Automata.

This interest came about while watching a TV show in the 1970s, which
showed scenes from the L'Auberson museum in Baud.  Last year as part
of the MBSI tour I finally got to see this museum.

Also shown were the Jaquet-Droz dolls.  I determined then that I wanted
to make a doll like the Musician.  I have part of the framework made.
The only books I could find at the time in the library were the books
by Larry Givens on player pianos, and the Audsley book on pipe organs.
A neighbor's house had been built around a pipe organ (now in the local
Bella Roma pizza parlor) -- not much help in making a clockwork doll to
play one.  I met with a lot of discouragement and "Why do you want to
know that type questions?"

Perseverance paid off.  The interest in mechanical music lead me to
discover computers; actually my interest was in animation and puppetry,
so in college I studied Theater along with computer science (in case
the first did not work out.)

After school, finding no opportunity as a museum curator, I went
into retail sales, selling Apple microcomputers.  I also collected
illustrated children's books.  One day, when visiting the local 'rare'
book dealer, I found a book on dolls which described the Jaquet-Droz
dolls trip to the USA in the early 1960s.  After six years of retail
sales I had enough and went into product testing.  Here my interest in
mechanical music was useful.  A Postscript printer is no different than
a player piano or book organ.  I became a senior test engineer for
Apple, where I wrote the start pages for some of the printers shipped
in the mid-1990s.

In the meantime I helped found a local costume group and became active
in the Renaissance & Victorian societies, which do monthly 'Costume
Balls,' such as have happened throughout history.

The West Coast is not a good place for mechanical music.  I found no
support from the local collectors when I joined too many groups at once
in the late 1980s.  For some reason they all wanted me to volunteer for
everything.  As I wanted to make new mechanical music items, I found
actual discouragement from local mechanical music collectors who
accused me of wanting to make 'fakes.'  "No," I replied, "I want to
make my own versions." I only wanted to measure local items to see how
they worked, as I could not afford them due to the high cost of
housing.

I found more support in the watch collectors groups, which encourage
members to put together small shops and make parts (or even complete
watches.)  Through this I met the late Henry B. Fried.  The local
clockmaker John Grass would go with Henry on fantastic trips and see
the back rooms of museums.  He told me they were going to Neuchatel
and would see the Jaquet-Droz dolls.

It took everything I had saved to go on this trip.  I even lost my
house in a foreclosure (which would have happened whether I went or
not.)

This trip was the best thing I ever did.  I have found much better jobs
(such as the one at Apple) and been on many trips since.  A few years
back, while visiting WOSTEP in Nuchatel on a tour, we ran overtime.
I persuaded the tour director to stop for lunch next to the Art and
History Museum.  The director told me that he had some business nearby
regarding a Musical box tour the following year.  This was the MBSI
50th Anniversary Tour.

My MBSI activities has remained at the national publications level, as
I no longer attended the local meetings.  I had been chosen secretary
of the San Francisco NAWCC chapter, and with this and 'costume' events
every few weeks I did not have time for the 'collectors' meetings.

This most recent trip opened up more of the world of mechanical music
when I met Siegfried Wendel of Ruedesheim.  I also met Dr. Haskells
in Utrecht.

Palo Alto, near where I live and next to the Stanford University, is
one of the few places in the world where one can learn enamel painting.
(Currently we have a student in the class from Brazil.  It is not
uncommon to have French or Swiss students in the class.)  I showed
Siegfried some of the paintings I had made.  He recognized the birdbox
lid.  His Mechanical Music Manufactory was able to save me the time of
having to make the mechanical parts.

While on the 50th anniversary MBSI trip I found that the next national
convention was going to be seven miles from my house.  Most of my
Saturdays are spent enamel painting the new cases.  As there would be
no class on that weekend I could attend.

I must apologize to the mechanical music collectors as a whole.  A few
spoiled my enjoyment in the hobby.  I thought it was dead except for
a few rich people who wanted to have what no one else could.

The trip last year and the recent convention really changed my outlook.
After nearly 3 weeks of little sleep reading the MMD archive  I can see
that things are much different than they were 10 years ago.

I think the MMD has done a lot to encourage communication from isolated
regional collectors like myself.  A round of thanks to the moderators
is in order.

There are a few technical things in the Digest I would like to comment
on.  As this is already too long I will spread these out over my next
few posts.

Julie Porter

 [ Welcome to MMD, Julie.  I'm looking forward to hearing more about
 [ your activities -- you're a busy lady!  :-)   -- Robbie