The inimitable George Leonard Herter
Back in the 1950s and the 1960s, the annual two-inch thick telephone directory-sized Herter’s catalogue, arriving from far off, exotic Waseca, Minnesota was, for sportsmen, and for small boy aspiring sportsmen, not just a standard source of fishing tackle, camping, handloading, fly tying, trapping, and taxidermy supplies, the Herter’s catalogue was a long term reading treasure providing fodder for countless hours of theoretical expedition planning and equipment acquisition and maintenance.
Paul Collins, in a recent New York Times Book Review, pays tribute to the long-extinct Herter’s catalogue and its colorful and eccentric author. George Leonard Herter’s infamous “Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices” providing the recipes for the Virgin Mary’s favorite creamed spinach, Joan of Arc’s pate de fois gras, and Stonewall Jackson’s barbecued ribs (among many others) is his personal favorite example of Herteriana.
Starting in 1937 from atop his father’s dry-goods shop in Waseca, Minn., Herter over the next four decades built a mail-order sporting goods juggernaut. The arrival of the Herter’s catalog was like Christmas with bullets. Need a bird’s-eye maple gunstock? Check. How about a Herter’s Famous Raccoon Death Cry Call? Just two dollars. Fiberglass canoes? Got you covered. The catalog, which the former Waseca printer Wayne Brown recalls started as three-ring binder supplements, grew so popular — about 400,000 or 500,000 copies per run, he estimates — that Brown Printing became one of the country’s largest commercial printers.“Herter wrote all the copy for the catalogs,” Brown said in an e-mail message, and each item was described in loving, haranguing, Barnum-esque detail. No Herter item was merely good: it was World Famous, Patented, Special, “made with infinite care by our most expert old craftsmen,” or — my favorite — “actually made far better than is necessary.” The corollary was that his competitor’s products were worthless — or, as he put it, “like they were made by indifferent schoolgirls.”
But as good as much of his gear was, talk about Herter always comes around to one thing: his books. His enchantingly bombastic catalogs included listings for more than a dozen of his self-published works, bound in metallic silver and gold covers, and bearing titles like “How to Get Out of the Rat Race and Live on $10 a Month.”
My understanding is that Herter was put out of business in the 1970s over Jungle Cock. The eyed neck feathers of the Grey Jungle Fowl, Gallus Sonneratti, have long been an essential ingredient in the construction of artificial flies for fishing. The eyed feathers serve as eyes on streamer fly imitations of minnows, and as crucial decorative elements in the visually elaborate salmon fly attractor patterns originated in the Victorian era.
Federal enforcement of a ban on the trade in feathers of endangered species took no cognizance of material stockpiles dating to periods long before the ban, and George Leonard Herter was a classic American individualist and a hard core sportsman who simply could not bow to irrational regulation. The reports I heard were that federal lawsuits and seizures, based on one small particular type of feather entirely legally owned and acquired in the first place, ruined the famous company and broke its proprietor’s heart. He never even tried to revive his business.
Had it survived, just imagine how enormous a business Herter’s would be today! Herter’s would be today’s Cabela’s and more.
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Hat tip to Karen L. Myers.
Mark B
I was one of those 60’s kids that pored over the Herter’s catalogue, dreaming of a U-9 mauser rifle with a fiddleback stock, shooting the famous wasp-waist
Sonic bullets, all the while wondering what in the world was in the book “How to Live With a Bitch”. I was about the only kid in East Texas that received the Herters catalog; thanks to next-door neighbors from Minnesota.
Back then, little did I know that down in South Texas a freckle-faced girl and her Dad were making grape wine using a kit from Herters, which was posthumously pored down the bathtub drain. That girl has been my wife of over 30 years.
My father-in-law was a life-long Herter’s fan, (he had all the books) and he asserted that the 1968 federal Gun Control Act doomed Herter’s – they did an immense business in firearms and especially ammunition, evidently with a majority of that business being in the North Woods. That law prohibited mailing both guns and ammunition, and in those pre-UPS/Fed Ex days, it was the clap of doom descending over our hopes of seeing the latest full-color spreads of gunstock blanks. My father-in-law, an avid reloader, bought most of his supplies through Herter’s until that time. They were just about the only mail-order supplier of powder, bullets and assorted accessories in that period.
Reading your article and the NYT piece brought back many memories of Herters, and all the wondrous things that he offered. Thanks!
Rick B.
In the 60’s and 70’s I looked forward to my copy of Herter’s catalog. I was particularly interested in the archery section and the book section but I used to sit and read that catalog cover to cover. Not only did it sell me things that I “needed” but it set forth dreams of doing things that “normal” people no longer did. Things like living a meaningful life outside the office environments that most of us exist in today.
Recently I thought I might like to revive an interest in making flies. I wondered what had happened to Herter’s and tried to find them on the Internet. Nothing found until now. I was surprised and saddened to hear that the company was no more and hadn’t been for many years. It’s a sad time when company’s such as this can no longer exist.
I didn’t make my old goal of being self sufficient and living in the outback of Alaska. However, over the years, I have managed to live a life that is not exactly part of the “normal” world. I, and my wife, live on a small sailboat currently in Mexico and move to another country/port when the desire stirs in us. Without Herter’s, I’m not so sure I would have had the desire to live life on our own without the trappings of “normal” modern life. We have no mortgage and we live close to nature. Thank you Herter’s. We enjoy your inspiration.
JDZ
Sounds like a great lifestyle, but not enough room for one’s books!
Cheers,
David
Chris
Anybody remember the two page spread on the Teddy Bear? A true friend and confidant who will never let you down…. Priceless.
Robby
I am currently in receipt of my grandfathers Herter’s fiberglass canoe. Serial #1355. My wife and friends have used it the past several years on our pond. Now we have kids and I am painting it and repainting the trailer so we can spend time on it as a family in style. Does anyone know if a plug can be installed in a fiberglass canoe?
john christian
My first spinning reel was from Herters back in 1958 when I was 10. I’ll never forget it! I’d love to get my hands on an old catclogue of that vintage if it was’t too expensive.
Thanks for the memories,
John
dennis vander sys
I ran across your article about the rise and fall of the Herters catalog, I never knew why they quit publishing, very interesting. I came across your website when I was trying come up with a value for a Herters single action .22 revolver that I bought in the late 60s. I want to sell it, but have no idea what its worth. thanks again for the history lesson. Denny V.
Bob Caymen
Herter’s was a victim of the 1969 Federal Firearms law or Gun Act. It made being able to order a firearm through the mail illegal after the JFK assasination. Herters had no retail stores but the one at Waseca and they are another example of a victim of over Government regulation.
mackNnc
Oh God..how i miss Herters!! Such great copy great books, the best “wish book” ever created!
What really killed Herter’s< I think, was the sudden devaulation of the dollar. A lot of the Herter stuff was imported from Europe, and in the 70s and 80s the dollar vs. (whatever) took a real beating..suddenly Herter items (typically made in Germany, though some were made in England) weren’t such great values any longer…
but boy do I miss ‘em.
Chris Henderson
Herter’s was my all time favorite. I still cruise the internet looking for Herter’s items. I still use a couple of Herter’s rods and reels today.
Nick Gee
Through his written wisdom, in on form or another, growing up, GLH was like a Dutch uncle to me.
I spent more time studying the “Professional Guides Manual” or “How To Get Out Of The Ratrace…” or that giant, wonderful old catalog than I ever did studying math or history in High School.
I wish I could say that I am wildly successful by society’s definition; money, fame, security. I cannot make such a claim. I do claim to understand what it means to be an American. To cherish personal liberty. To hold it dear and to abhor our constrictive, power hungry government.
I understand hard work and creative thinking and the concept of “rewards=service”. I have built a life on this simple idea and it has fed me and my family for many years. The government has interfered with private enterprise to the degree that this simple idea hardly works any more.
I do claim to understand that for personal liberty to flourish we must all excercise personal responsibility. As a society, this begins with me. Then you.
GLH taught me to think independantly, to question things, to look beyond the surface. I credit GLH, more than anyone else in my life, for putting me on this path. I thank God for everything and for keeping me there.
Thanks, GLH
Stephen Harris
I would like to know the value of my 18 foot double end Herter’s fiberglass canoe. I purchased it from the Waseca store in 1971.
Steve Harris
rsharris@mchsi.com
stephen young
Ordered a .357 Magnum Herter single action and shot about 20,000 rounds through it before the barrel went. I have fired every brand and size of revolver, and it is the best one I’ve ever shot. Later, I met and dated a girl from Waseca, Minn. She never even heard of the place, and its not that big of a town.
But I really missed the catalogs. My family bought a whole bunch of stuff from it, and it was all high quality.
gls
the man is a legend and wil never be duplicated – he marked the end of an era
that was more fun than where we are now – w all miss the catalog – some of the items were really good and some could be made good – i wish i had stocked up on the herter sonic, pikie minnow & their version of the river runt – long live the memory of small time capitalism at its best
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