From one first born son to another

Monday, May 03, 2010 2:12PM I send John Van de Graaff an e-mail the day after Kenton's note because John was going away somewhere (as I would come to know later, John does a lot of travelling – often in support of his bird photography hobby – but this time was for a presentation of some kind). I wrote “I wanted to start the conversation to get the ball rolling and to give all parties some time to cogitate on matters.” 

Introducing myself as a master's student in the Science and Technology Studies Master's Program, I also explain that I'm a mature student, and that “My background has been mostly in the area of technical publications. I've had lifelong interest in electricity - particularly early electrical pioneers and Nikola Tesla in particular interest. The opportunity to do some kind of work with your father's papers is outstanding and would be of great interest. I have the first two weeks of August scheduled as vacation. I could spend some time in a visit in person to go over materials (presuming we get that far -- I also, need to update my passport, anyway to go to the USA).” 

“Not sure where to start so I'll pass the ball over to you for the next steps. I guess basic questions come to mind such as: What kinds of materials are at hand? How many? What needs / would you like to be done with them? Has anyone looked at them before? Can they come to Canada temporarily? Those kinds of things.” I include my website for John to peruse: http://www.yorku.ca/efenner/ and close by wishing him luck with his presentation.