Tuesday, December 5, 1967
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
5
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"AS ACCURATE AS A MODERN RIFLE"
Carlyle S. Smith holds 1803-model rifle like that carried by Lewis and Clark. Smith is nationally known for his identification of antique firearms.
--has identified many firearms for people in Europe.
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Professor Carlyle S. Smith is frequently called to identify pieces of firearms found by other archeologists and anthropologists in their research around the world.
"By identifying the date of manufacture of gun parts at Indian sites," Smith says, "we can determine what year the burial site was started, and therefore, have a good guess at the age of the entire community."
Research tools are valuable antique firearms to Kon-Tiki
Smith also can tell the nationality of traders who once met the Indians by the type of gun parts found in the sites.
Smith first worked on guns when he was eight years old.
Skills developed during years of tinkering with antique firearms have proved to be a valuable research tool for a University of Kansas anthropologist.
"I have handled firearms all my life," he says. "I can tell their age, within 10 years, just by looking at them."
His specialty is European military firearms from 1600 through 1800. When he began collecting firearms, an average gun sold for $4.00. The same gun would now sell for $100.00, Dr. Smith says.
Smith has written several articles in scholarly journals about firearms found in archeological sites. He also has written many articles in gun magazines. He scours Europe for old guns, and
In the garage of his home, he surveyed a large box of guns that had just arrived from Switzerland. The shipper had confused the orders, and sent Dr. Smith the wrong guns.
"Two or three of these guns might be worth the freight charges if I repaired them, and sold them in gun shows," he said, "but the rest are worthless. How can I tell? Just by looking at them."
The real "joy" for Dr. Smith in his hobby is restoring and rebuilding the firearms.
It takes him about a month's work to fix a gun—depending on its original condition. His workshop is lined with guns in various stages of repair.
"One mistake people make," he said as he tinkered with a gun, "is that they try to polish the iron parts of a gun until the parts shine. It is much better to give the gun the finish that it might have had when it was last used."
Last spring, Smith held a class in his home for students who were interested in learning about the history and evolution of firearms. The ten students who enrolled received three hours of University credit.
Smith's experience enables him to spot a "good" gun at first glance.
plies yellow laundry soap to the stock, and stains out the dents. He then replaces the pieces, fills cracks, and sands the surface of the stock. Linseed oil is then applied and allowed to work into the stock. He removes the rust from the metal parts, leaving them as they were when last used. He then replaces any missing parts and his 'new' gun is ready for display.
He disassembles the gun, ap-
"Don't think that antique guns are not effective," he says with a smile. "A good marksman could hit a target at 100 yards with these old guns."
Dr. Smith is involved in many other pursuits. In 1955-56 he was a member of the expedition of Thor Heyerdahl, of "Kon Tiki" fame.
In 1933 he led an expedition to the Marquesas Islands. He is also a guide for tour groups on Easter Island. Dr. Smith has done extensive archeological exploration both in Kansas and South Dakota. He earned his Ph.D. degree from Columbia University. On July 2, of this year, he was honored by having the laboratories of the Nassau County Museum of Natural History, in New York, named the Carlyle Shreeve Smith Archeological Laboratories.