January 27, 2000, Thursday
Section: Page One

Oyster Industry Information Is Desired

Tom Kuehhas Seeking Information for Library of Congress Legacy Project

By DAGMAR FORS KARPPI

OYSTERING, a community tradition in Oyster Bay, is the focus of a Local Legacies project being done by Tom Kuehhas, director of the Oyster Bay Historical Society. The Library of Congress, who initiated the Local Legacies program, has accepted Mr. Kuehhas' program, "The Oystering Industry and Its Evolution Over the Course of the 20th Century."

"The Library of Congress is celebrating its bicentennial and is soliciting Local Legacies projects to document American community traditions," he [Kuehhas] said. Congressman Peter King is the local coordinator of the project and is in favor of the project.

The primary objective of the Local Legacies project is to document aspects of our nation's diverse cultural heritage and assemble a selection of the documentary materials at the Library of Congress to share with all Americans. The documentation of these local legacies will be celebrated during a special event in May 2000, to which all participants from across the country and their Senators and Congressional representatives will be invited. Later, the documentary material will be added to the Library's collection and a rich selection of it made available on-line on the World Wide Web. Information is available there on the Library of Congress site.

Presently Mr. Kuehhas is looking for anything relevant to oystering from the public. He has spoken to the Frank M. Flower & Sons, Inc. oyster company, as well as Gloria Tucker, whose grandfather Samuel Y. Bayles started the Oyster Bay Oyster Company. Their brand name was Seawanhaka Oysters, as Frank M. Flowers' is Pine Island Oysters. Mr. Kuehhas has talked to Dave Short of the Christeen restoration.

To facilitate the project, the first 20/20 Lecture Series on March 21, at the Masonic Lodge on West Main Street, co-hosted by the Oyster Bay Historical Society and the Friends of Raynham Hall Museum, will present a roundtable discussion on the oyster industry. Mr. Kuehhas plans to tape that roundtable for inclusion in the project. He also wants to take digital images of photographs and oystering materials such as rakes, and anything else related to the industry. "I hope Dave Relyea and Franklin Flower will have leads to baymen who have reminiscences they want to share," he said.

Mr. Kuehhas would appreciate it if anyone with material they would like to share -- for computer scanning purposes -- to contact him at the OBHS, 922-5032. "I will not keep anything unless you want to donate it to the Society," he said. "It is just for inclusion in the project."

Copyright © The Oyster Bay Enterprise-Pilot, January 27, 2000.

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