About Us
The Mission of the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation is to provide the funding and guidance for the research, preservation and display of historical materials of Smith & Wesson. Our work has digitized over 500 boxes containing correspondence of over 100 years of Smith & Wesson business activity to date, preserving them for future generations.
Our History
The SWHF was founded in early 2007 by Sheryl and Ray Cheely. Avid Smith & Wesson collectors for over 30 years, they felt there was a great need to provide a funding method for the activities now being pursued by the Foundation. Their goal was to ensure that the rich history of Smith & Wesson and its products would continue to captivate collectors and historians for many generations to come. Ray has since passed on and his friendship, knowledge and leadership are sadly missed. Sheryl continues to take an active leadership role in the Foundation.
Our Work
In 2016, the SWHF took over the process of issuing “Factor Letters” (now “Letters of Authentication”) that were previously issued by Smith & Wesson. Along with the funds raised by producing these letters, along with membership and generations donations, the SWHF continues to fund the digital reproduction and indexing of Smith & Wessons factory records, as well as purchasing historically significant materials for preservation. We work with the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History, the Smith & Wesson Collectors’ Association, Smith & Wesson, and others to accomplish our mission
Digitization Process
Our digital reproduction work has been contracted to Konica Minolta, and their assistance has been invaluable. Their Production Control System (PCS) individually tracks each box of documents as they move through the production process. All boxes of incoming documents or media are logged and a unique bar code is assigned and a label is printed to track each box as it moves through the imaging process. The PCS System compares data generated at each production step for continuity and completeness.
In order to make the task easier to manage, The Foundation decided to break the 500 boxes of records held at CVHM into several parcels of work, or projects. Each project addresses records for a specific time period.
Board of Trustees & Officers
- Bill Cross, Chairman S&WHF, Author, Chairman S&WCA
- Michael Helms, S&WHF Secretary and Treasurer, S&WCA Board Member
- Don Mundell, Historian
- Sheryl Cheely, Past-President S&WCA
- Roy Jinks, S&WHF Historian and Board Member, Author, Chairman Emeritus S&WCA
- Dave Ballantyne, S&WHF Board Member and Past-President S&WCA
- Peter DeRose, S&WHF Board Member and Past President S&WCA
- Jim Supica, S&WHF Board Member, Author, Past President S&WCA, Former Director NRA National Firearms Museum
- Joe Carvalho, S&WHF Board Member
- Jim Fisher, Board Member
- Margaret Humberston, Board Member
