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At some point in time, for some unknown reason, I started putting all issues on the shelf. On a winter's day in 1967, the club's ice dive was canceled, so I spent the day reading the many issues. It was at this time, that I thought it might be an interesting hobby, trying to complete the sets of diving periodicals. And, I had to install another shelf.

Through visits to back date magazine shops, I managed to procure many issues, including some that had my address label on the cover. Someone that I gave them to must have traded them in. I began to think that my hobby was off to a rough start. Here I was, buying my own issues for the second time around.

By writing letters to the editor, placing Classified Ads, and answering letters and ads of other individuals, these were good ways to procure many issues over the years. By 1970, I had already built my first periodical case, and it was time to build another one. One day, I received a letter from an individual whom I had not known. He had an idea of starting a club for periodical collectors, and membership would be free. That seemed like a novel idea!

I told him to consider me a member, and inquired about how I could contact other members. When he mentioned that all trading would be done through himself, I started wondering if I had made the right choice for a hobby. Having bought my own issues twice, and now being a member of a “club” (?) where the members would not know each other, perhaps I should have collected stamps, matchbook covers, or.. Anyway, I somehow managed to procure a few issues from the “club”!

About 1980. I had become totally non-selective regarding the diving periodicals I was collecting. Sport, Commercial and Military, there were no bounds. Of course, I wound up with an increasing number of sets that would have to be completed. Oh well, my library was growing, and I was having fun!

By 1985, I was trading with many other collectors. It seemed like issues were coming and going daily. I must admit, there were times when I wondered if I was ever going to complete the sets that I had. None-the-less, part of the fun of my hobby was the searching for issues, leads and information.

A couple of years later, I was pursuing issues world wide, and trading with collectors in several countries. With the “fall of the wall”, this opened up the former iron curtain countries. Many more, interesting diving periodicals were available.

By 1990, I had probably built about a dozen periodical cases. Had it become a second hobby? Another (enjoyable?) necessity is counting pages. It is difficult at best, due to the many, nice distractions to read. One day I discovered two, very old issues that were not complete. It took two more years to replace the issues. Finally, after eighteen years, I could take this set to the bookbinders.

As of 2003, I have been actively collecting for thirty-seven years. It has taken up to twenty-three years to complete some of the sets. After twenty-seven years of searching, I am still trying to complete another set!

The oldest, original issues in the library were published in 1946. A magazine and newsletters, they are among the oldest periodicals published. The library also has a complete photocopy of the first issue of a bulletin, in magazine format, that was published in 1929. Is it the oldest diving periodical ever published?

Approximately three hundred fifty titles are represented. Along with the bound sets, there are more than seventy-five complete, unbound sets, and many complete duplicate sets as well. Approximately fifty other sets are at least ninety percent complete.

Over the past thirty-seven years, the search for, and recycling of issues via trading, has been a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I am unable to interpret the many languages. However, when individuals share a common interest, language barriers never seem to be a problem. Completing the many sets has been especially rewarding. But, the most enjoyable part of my hobby, is trading issues with many new friends around the world!

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