The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York has received a $2,440 grant from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network for the treatment of Richard McMahon’s silk driving jacket; the work will be executed by textile conservator Gwen Spicer, Spicer Art Conservation, LLC.
'Dick' McMahon was born in Fredonia, KS, about 1880. Around 1896, he started as a groom and learned the art of driving trotters with the Steward brothers of Kansas City, MO. His first claim to fame was with the pacer, Major Muscovite, at the turn of the century. He maintained a public stable until he went with Calumet Farm in Kentucky. With the Calumet horses he won many stakes, including the 1931 Hambletonian with Calumet Butler. Dick McMahon, who was rated one of the best harness drivers of his time, retired from racing after the 1931 season to manage Calumet Farm. He died in Kentucky in 1945 and was elected an Immortal of the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 1958.
The Harness Racing Museum’s Carol Fleming Messenger Fund for the Care and Conservation of Drivers’ Colours continues to be a driving force behind the conservation treatment of the Museum’s silks collection. Established in 2004, the Messenger Fund has raised $39,400 through grants and individual sponsorships which have to date helped to preserve eight drivers’ jackets and nine caps. Projects completed this year include the jacket and caps of Immortals Gabe Cartnal, Henry Thomas and Lon McDonald. Much remains to be done and further individual and grant funding support will be sought in the coming year to provide for the colors that remain un-sponsored at this time. The jackets and caps of the following renowned reinsmen have been prioritized for care but as yet remain without a funding sponsor:
Ralph Baldwin
Tom Berry
Harry Burright
Will Caton
Charles Coburn
Guy Crippen
Jimmy Cruise
Vernon Dancer
John Dodge
Charles Fitzpatrick
W. Forester Gibbons
Clint Hodgins
Joe O’Brien
Nat Ray
Sanders Russell
Ira Ryerson
Frank Safford
Bi Shively
(With files from the HRM)