This collection of correspondence
is from the estate of Gil Curtright. Although he allowed many items to
accumulate over time, he did not keep it all organized, and the collection is
certainly incomplete. Once all the correspondence was brought
together, it was sorted chronologically and placed into loose-leaf notebooks.
The idea of scanning the letters started during this period, but initially only
those letters containing important insights into the history of car 2208 were scanned. Correspondence between several important people involved with Duesenbergs in
general and car 2208, J-186 in particular is included. Of particular note are the
early letters regarding Joseph Kirchhoff, the 1961 letter from William Beckman, and
the 1954 letters regarding the early history of the ACD Club.
The correspondence is organized in the website as it is in the loose-leaf
notebooks that contain it:
Notebook 1 (1927-1964), Notebook 2 (1965-1970), Notebook 3 (1971-1988), and
Notebook 4, still a work-in-progress (1995 onwards). Undated letters are
not yet included.
Frequent correspondents include Marshall Merkes (1913-1986), beginning in 1961 and
continuing until the 1980s; Raymond Wolff (1912-1991) from 1964 to 1988; Jerry Gebby
(1897-1989) from 1965 to 1971; and Strother MacMinn (1918-1998) for twenty years
beginning in 1968.