Offered here is the personal memorabilia collection of Mr. R.L. Clark. He was a very prominent motorcycle dealer who for years sold Indian motorcycles in competition with Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee.
I purchased this collection some years ago to prevent it from being broken up and sold piece by piece. I felt it was a valuable historical collection deserving of preservation as a whole. It was in great disarray when I acquired it and subsequently I have organized and mounted it all in a vintage scrapbook. The pages are new archival paper and the interleaving is archival quality also. This has been custom assembled to follow somewhat of a chronological order. The overall size of the scrapbook is 11″ x 15″ which will give you a sense of individual picture sizes. There are 48 pages. The photo’s are all original and either postcard or snapshot images and high quality original photo enlargements. Newspaper clippings have been attached to the pages using acid free, removable glue spot dots.
The first photo in the book is dated 11-28-1912 and shows the parents of R.L.Clark. They are “Alice Ida (Kusche) Clark and Evret Alphonso Clark on Reading Standard motorcycle and sidecar of son Rhuben who had ridden up on it from Milwaukee where he had the agency (no cement roads then). Taken in east lawn of farm home-clothes line posts prominent at right. Neighbors woods across 24 st rd in background”.
The motorcycles displayed in the photo’s include: Reading Standard, Indian, Harley-Davidson, Evans, and Pierce. Indian bicycles are also shown in a variety of images. Many of the photo’s are dated, with 1910 seeming to be the earliest. There is an original letter from the vice president of the Hendee Manufacturing Company dated March 3, 1921 thanking Mr. Clark for his outstanding Indian Day celebration in the heart of their competitions territory.
This collection will only be sold in its entirety. Do not ask for individual pictures unless you want to have them as a reproduction that I will make for you with price to be determined.
The following images show the total content of the scrapbook. Your questions are welcomed and individual higher resolution scans will be sent on request to seriously interested buyers.
Enjoy this piece of motorcycle history.
