Doug Holland, an Auburn man who reclaims barn wood to make recycled antique wood flooring found an original poster for AMERICA’S FIRST ALL GIRL MOTORCYCLE SHOW held in September 29th 1940, while he was dismantling a barn last July.
“I was dismantling a barn back in July,” Holland said, “It was out on Route 89 outside of Seneca Falls, and as I was doing my final walkthrough, I found this poster just laying on a box in one of the stalls. I did some research and found out more about this show and the woman who organized it.”
What Holland discovered was that Scherbyn not only was an advocate for women riders but also the organizer for Women’s International Motorcycle Association, (WIMA) the first group that organized women motorcycle enthusiasts outside of local regions, back in the ’50s.
She has recently been nominated to the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame and sadly is not alive to see her great contribution to the art of Women in Motorcycling rewarded.
Please correct regarding the original poster found for “American’s first all-girl motorcycle show” (all upper-case letters, no hyphen between all-girl).
1. I did not find the poster in Auburn, CA. I found it in Canoga, NY.
2. I don’t restore barns. I reclaim barn wood to make recycled antique wood flooring.
3. The show was not held in July of 1940. It held on Sunday, September 29, 1940.
4. The reporter got it wrong… I didn’t find the poster during my initial walkthrough. It was my final walkthrough on before the scheduled barn razing the next day. Thank you.
Thank you Doug for your corrections. I will be happy to provide the correct information. I did get it from the original news report and am certainly glad that you contacted me to fix any discrepancies. Consider it done!!
“ALL GIRL”. Thanks for the corrections. Truthfulness and accuracy are important. Looks good! I’ll leave you alon e now.- Doug Holland
Donna,
I just finished work on a new PDF containing a far better newspaper article about Louise Scherbyn and the poster I found. The article’s by the Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY. Shoot me an e-mail and I’ll attach it back if you want it for your site. You can see it at http://www.LevannaRL.com/News.htp. Just scroll down, the click “REVVING UP HISTORY”. I think you’ll like it.
Doug
Sorry Donna, that link is http://www.LevannaRL.com/news.htm
Doug