Raleigh DeGeer Amyx
Encyclopedia
Raleigh DeGeer Amyx is an American collector
of Presidential, Americana
, military, sports, NASA
, and Olympic artifacts, including gold, silver, and bronze winners medals presented to athletes.
, and later moved to St. Louis, Missouri
, where he resided during the World War II
years. In 1945, his father, Eugene Raleigh Amyx, accepted a transfer by his employer Johnson & Johnson
, to Louisville, Kentucky
. There Raleigh was raised until his graduation from Atherton High School
.
. At one time he served in the Investigation Division, which included the kidnapping
and white slave trade units. He served as a Messenger to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
. In 1957 Hoover presented an inscribed and signed sepia-toned photo to Amyx. About the same time, Amyx was asked by the Director's Office to take a message to the then Majority Leader of the United States Senate
, Lyndon B. Johnson
, and to then Senator John F. Kennedy
. While in the Senate Office with Kennedy, Amyx asked him to inscribe and sign a photograph, to which he obliged.
Later Amyx became an Association Executive, overseeing and co-authoring the Gymnastics Safety Manual. Following a near-fatal illness from throat cancer, Amyx founded American Heritage Manuscripts and Collectibles.
collectibles, particularly those owned and used by famous Americans.
, a television mini-series adapted from a the book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House
by Lillian Rogers Parks
, who had been a housekeeper and seamstress at the White House
for thirty years. Amyx was inspired to gather momentos from former White House employees into a collection, and placed numerous advertisements in the Washington Post. One response said, "You don't know who to leave all this stuff to. You'd be out on a walk with the president and he would say 'Here's a little something for you'....We took it for granted in those days. It was just work. Now it's history." Amyx has stated he recognized the historical importance of the both the items and the stories, and gathered signed provenance
letters from each contributor to authenticate the items. Amyx has since worked with some 100 people who have held long-term household positions for First Families
since the days of Herbert Hoover
, and some whose parents and/or grandparents served in the White House as far back as the 19th century. In Collecting Magazine, Heather Holmber referred to Amyx as "An evangelist for American history, a virtual walking encyclopedia with a penchant for Presidential memorabilia."
His official White House china
collection ranks as the world's second-largest privately owned such collection. One piece from the collection was traded to Robert L. McNeil and is featured in the book American Presidential China. Another item in the collection is President Dwight D. Eisenhower
's Rolex Datejust
, which is the 150,000th officially-certified Rolex Chronometer made. This watch was featured in Jake's Rolex World Magazine.
, football
, boxing
, horse racing
and the Olympics. Amyx possesses three official Super Bowl ring
s presented to Washington Redskins
players in 1982, 1987, and 1991.
Olympic memorabilia
According to the Olympian Collectors Club, his Olympic Medal and memorabilia collection ranks within the top four collections in the world. His collection includes over 50 Olympic Winner’s medals in gold, silver, and bronze dating back to 1896. He is a member of the International Society of Olympic Historians
, with research interests in the Olympic Movement, Olympic history, promotion of Olympic Games, and Olympic gymnastics.
. Portions of the Raleigh DeGeer Amyx Presidential collection have been exhibited at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum
.
He has made national television appearances, such as on Good Morning America
. His collection was filmed by ABC
. In addition to TV, a number of newspaper and book references have mentioned him and his collection.
Collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...
of Presidential, Americana
Americana
Americana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...
, military, sports, NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
, and Olympic artifacts, including gold, silver, and bronze winners medals presented to athletes.
Early life, education
Amyx was born in 1938 in Kansas City, KansasKansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...
, and later moved to St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, where he resided during the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
years. In 1945, his father, Eugene Raleigh Amyx, accepted a transfer by his employer Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....
, to Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
. There Raleigh was raised until his graduation from Atherton High School
Atherton High School
Atherton High School is a public school in the Highlands district of Louisville, Kentucky and is part of the Jefferson County Public School district. It opened in 1923 as J.M. Atherton High School for Girls...
.
Career
Amyx served in the U.S. Army and worked at the FBIFederal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
. At one time he served in the Investigation Division, which included the kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
and white slave trade units. He served as a Messenger to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
. In 1957 Hoover presented an inscribed and signed sepia-toned photo to Amyx. About the same time, Amyx was asked by the Director's Office to take a message to the then Majority Leader of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
, Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
, and to then Senator John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. While in the Senate Office with Kennedy, Amyx asked him to inscribe and sign a photograph, to which he obliged.
Later Amyx became an Association Executive, overseeing and co-authoring the Gymnastics Safety Manual. Following a near-fatal illness from throat cancer, Amyx founded American Heritage Manuscripts and Collectibles.
Collector
Amyx claims he started collecting at age seven, when he "opened" a museum consisting of some coins, stamps, butterflies and a dead bat. Admission was 2 cents. Amyx's large private collection as an adult is specialized in Presidential, Sports, Military, and NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
collectibles, particularly those owned and used by famous Americans.
Presidential collection
In the early 1980s, Amyx claims he saw Backstairs at the White HouseBackstairs at the White House (miniseries)
Backstairs at the White House is a 1979 NBC television miniseries based on the book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House by Lillian Rogers Parks...
, a television mini-series adapted from a the book My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House
My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House
My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House is an autobiographical novel by Lillian Rogers Parks . The memoir was based on Parks' recollections of thirty years as a seamstress in the White House and on childhood memories of her mother's 30...
by Lillian Rogers Parks
Lillian Rogers Parks
Lillian Rogers Parks was an American maid and seamstress in the White House.With the journalist Frances Spatz Leighton, co-author of a number of White House memoirs, Parks published My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House. The book covers a 60-year period in the life of domestic staff in the...
, who had been a housekeeper and seamstress at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
for thirty years. Amyx was inspired to gather momentos from former White House employees into a collection, and placed numerous advertisements in the Washington Post. One response said, "You don't know who to leave all this stuff to. You'd be out on a walk with the president and he would say 'Here's a little something for you'....We took it for granted in those days. It was just work. Now it's history." Amyx has stated he recognized the historical importance of the both the items and the stories, and gathered signed provenance
Provenance
Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...
letters from each contributor to authenticate the items. Amyx has since worked with some 100 people who have held long-term household positions for First Families
First Family
A First Family is an unofficial title for the family of the head of state or head of government of a country .A First Family usually consists of:*The head of state or head of government*The First Lady or First Gentleman...
since the days of Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, and some whose parents and/or grandparents served in the White House as far back as the 19th century. In Collecting Magazine, Heather Holmber referred to Amyx as "An evangelist for American history, a virtual walking encyclopedia with a penchant for Presidential memorabilia."
His official White House china
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
collection ranks as the world's second-largest privately owned such collection. One piece from the collection was traded to Robert L. McNeil and is featured in the book American Presidential China. Another item in the collection is President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
's Rolex Datejust
Rolex Datejust
The Rolex Datejust is an officially certified, self-winding chronometer wristwatch manufactured by Rolex. The Datejust was the first wristwatch with a date function, in 1945....
, which is the 150,000th officially-certified Rolex Chronometer made. This watch was featured in Jake's Rolex World Magazine.
Sports collection
Amyx has a collection of sports collectibles relating to baseballBaseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
and the Olympics. Amyx possesses three official Super Bowl ring
Super Bowl ring
The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the winners of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl...
s presented to Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
players in 1982, 1987, and 1991.
Olympic memorabilia
According to the Olympian Collectors Club, his Olympic Medal and memorabilia collection ranks within the top four collections in the world. His collection includes over 50 Olympic Winner’s medals in gold, silver, and bronze dating back to 1896. He is a member of the International Society of Olympic Historians
International Society of Olympic Historians
For the parody hardcore punk band International Superheroes of Hardcore, see ISHC.The International Society of Olympic Historians is a non-profit organization founded in 1991 with the purpose of promoting and studying the Olympic Movement and the Olympic Games. The majority of recent books on the...
, with research interests in the Olympic Movement, Olympic history, promotion of Olympic Games, and Olympic gymnastics.
Media presence
Amyx has acquired, authenticated, and appraised historical items for collectors and for entities such as the Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
. Portions of the Raleigh DeGeer Amyx Presidential collection have been exhibited at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs is the presidential library and final resting place of Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. Designed by Hugh Stubbins and Associates, the library is located in Simi Valley, California, about northwest of...
and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum
The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum is the Presidential library of Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States. Located in West Branch, Iowa, next to the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, the library is one of thirteen presidential libraries run by the National...
.
He has made national television appearances, such as on Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
. His collection was filmed by ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. In addition to TV, a number of newspaper and book references have mentioned him and his collection.