This Page Last Updated: June 25, 2006
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From the Acknowledgements Page of the Unpublished Manuscript MAGICAL MINIATURE LANDSCAPES "The author would like to thank the Phoenix Public Library and Laurel at the Arizona InterLibrary Loan Center there (1987-91, 1995-96) for allowing me access to holdings across the country -- and thanks to those widespread college and community libraries who participated. The Valley Garden Center's library and that of the Phoenix Bonsai Society. The members of the PBS for providing ongoing support for this project and access to some of their personal libraries, especially Elsie Andrade, Doug and Gail Acker, and Max and Shirley Miller. To all the members also, and visiting members from other clubs at PBS meetings and shows for valuable input, insights, and encouragement. Thank-you to former members Roseanne Elwinger, Alice Feffer, and John Finkey for their donations of books and magazines to the Phoenix Bonsai Society library, of which the author was librarian from 1990-95. Thanks to Alan Grossman for his suggestions on resources and art history. Thank-you to various co-workers from AGP/BCP/DHS for their assistance in helping me learn WordPerfect (1992-96) as I transferred my notes over to that format. Thank-you also to Nelson Gildenmeister and Sam Fry for their technical/hardware support. Thanks to ABS Editors Jack Wikle, the late Arch Hawkins, and Jill Hurd for their comments and direction for my articles based on the working notes from this book. Thanks also to Wendy Zaritsky for her insightful marketing analysis and advice. Thanks to the Fry family and Frank and Ann Vargo for their support and encouragement, and to my other uncle, Greg Vargo, for his contribution to keep my interest going with a nominal membership in the Phoenix Bonsai Society way back when, 1971-72. I thank my father, Joseph, who showed me the annual joy and basics of gardening from an early age; and my mother, Virginia, for lending a patient and understanding ear. To my parents also for their unexpectedly generous financial and emotional support over the years. Thanks also to a very special companion Maine Coon cat, Dance, who was with me prior to and through most of this book's research, and her briefer partner, lap-sitting domestic shorthair Shass. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the spirit of Serendipity which led me through much of my research -- and, in fact, first interested me in the subject on Halloween 1969 when after school I came upon Ann Kimball Pipe's book at the local branch of the Cleveland Public Library while roaming the aisles without a particular topic in mind. Who knew what that particular check-out would lead to..." PRE-SITE Henri Vermeulen [past ABS president], whose Winter 1994 ABS Journal article "Taking the Information Highway To The Art Of Bonsai" (pp. 144-145) opened a door. Scott Eastland and Byrd Preston, whose early personal adventures with the Internet and gracious allowing me to access it weekly using the latter's computer April 1995 through August 1996 planted many seeds. My first stint with the Internet Bonsai Club was during that time period, also. Joan McCarter, whose discussion of her HTML class developed the idea that the Phoenix Bonsai Society could eventually make its own Internet web site, wow, just like the big guys.
J.C. Walker, whose [at the time limited] experience with a personal web site
through uswest.net (now qwest.net) in March 1999 led me to sign up with these folks
as my first ISP.
SITE The vast majority of this site was created with the WYSIWYG abilities of Netscape Composer, originally courtesy of qwest.net, whose various levels of technical support and customer service had been called upon in the punctuated evolution of this site, and with Red River Net.com, my second ISP, whose technical support staff handled the technical stuff so I didn't have to. Since a mid-January 2006 computer crash, I have used Arachnophilia 5.2 software to more slowly update and add to this site. (No historical information was lost during the crash: "Back-up early, Back-up often!" Guy Beaver, whose technical assistance on many early occasions (and some scanned images, specifically those for the first Nursery ads and Postage Stamps) made "simple" technology less complicated for someone more comfortable with just a word processing program. Amy Snyder, whose suggestion in May 1999 that I shouldn't just sit on a detailed bio for John Naka as an obituary-to-be (newspapers and magazines have them "in the can" ready to go) has led to a much more comprehensive review available right now of our great teacher's ongoing life and works. The bios for sensei Yoshimura, Kato, and Murata were spinoffs from Naka-san's. My son, Andrew, who typed the rough draft for one of my articles into Netscape Composer in June 1999 and, several years later while learning web design in high school, regularly checks in to see what's up on his dad's large web site. And who has helped Paint some changes to some business card .jpg here. Jim Lewis, whose insistance in October 1999 that there were too many dancing pyramid GIFs -- particularly on the club's menu page -- helped make this site a little easier on the eyes. (Reviewing my notes I see that he was repeating what Guy had previously pointed out back in May. Don't want to be too hasty to make changes...) Joan McCarter, again, whose brief comments during Matsuri 2001 led to the Do I need to join a club to learn bonsai? addition to the FAQ page. Tomas Melo from Slovakia, whose enthusiasm has supplied me with historical material, images and links which have been added to various parts of the site. Riley Diana, whose March 2002 inquiry about the history of dwarf tree collecting in the Chinese culture and specifically about an apparently little-known lucrative small industry which it was to the royal families, resulted in a speculative answer by me which got me thinking about Some of What We Don't Know. What was originally an expansion of a much earlier list I had compiled while researching MML now continues to develop in a most unique fashion. Marc Zimmerman, who provided me with images known and unknown of many of the Bonsai on postage stamps. Kathy Gustafson, Maggie Knight, and Derrick Price for previous support and enthusiasm for this project. The InterLibrary Loan departments of the libraries in Kingman, Arizona and in Security-Widefield, Colorado (thanks, Inez and Patsy!) for their abilities to find most of my varied and obscure requests. Finally, among others, my truly awesome wife Shirley Baran (née Price), and Mike and Ardie Apostolos, Cliff Broyles, Chris Cochrane, Nona DiDomenico, Lindsay Farr, Ernest Hasan, Max Miller, Penny Schneck, and Bill Valavanis whose continuing support and enthusiasm for this labor of love further inspires/inspired me.
Thank you to all.
P.S. Unless otherwise stated on this or another specific page, all text on this web site was authored, typed, designed, and edited by Robert J. Baran. |