Charles Grayson
Encyclopedia
Charles Elbert Grayson was an archer
, bowyer
, archery collector, and author
. His archery collection is contained in the University of Missouri
Museum of Anthropology.
, Saxton Pope
, and William "Chief" Compton. Grayson made his first bow from a lemonwood
stave that he won selling tickets to a movie about Art Young
's trek across Alaska.
In private practice in Sacramento, Grayson took up archery again. He became skilled in making various types of bows and became involved in local, regional, and national archery associations. He has won many medals in competition, at one time holding the amateur record for the 65-lb class in flight shooting. Hunting expeditions and professional travel provided opportunities to collect archery-related materials in areas such as Mexico, British Columbia, Alaska, and Africa.
In 1960, Grayson and his wife built a house in Oregon where they retired in 1972. There he added a building to house his vast archery collection and related materials like thumb rings, ivory sculpture, and paintings. He began donating his collection to the University of Missouri Museum of Anthropology in the early 1990s.
from all over the world. His archery collection spans artifacts from China
, Tibet
, Thailand
, Japan
, Korea
, Turkey
, Iran
, India
, Pakistan
, Mongolia
, the Philippines
, Africa
, North America
, South America
, as well as more contemporary pieces from Europe
(England
) as well as the United States
. Dr. Grayson also collected bows from Fred Bear
and collected many of the record setting flight bows from Harry Drake
.
Grayson was a member as well as Vice President of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries.
He was an inductee in the Archery Hall of Fame
in 2005.
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
, bowyer
Bowyer
A bowyer is someone who makes or sells bows. Bows are used for hunting and for archery. The development of gunpowder and muskets slowly led to the replacement of bows as weapons of war which decreased the importance of bowyers. Someone who makes arrows is a fletcher.-History:Historically, a huge...
, archery collector, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. His archery collection is contained in the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
Museum of Anthropology.
Early life
Charles Grayson was born in 1910 on a farm in Iowa, the eighth in a family of nine children. When he was nine years old, the family relocated to Riverside, California. He graduated from Riverside Polytechnic High School in 1928 and from there, went on to attend Pamona College from 1928-1933. While attending Pomona College he and a friend, together with a Japanese student, began archery as a sport. This was Grayson's first introduction to formal Japanese archery. After graduation from Pomona, Grayson studied physics at the University of California, Berkeley, but eventually changed his interests to medicine. He graduated from Stanford School of Medicine in 1942 as a radiologist.Interest in archery
A close neighbor of Grayson's in Riverside, a scoutmaster and archer, was friends with prominent archers such as Art YoungArt Young
Arthur "Art" Young was an American cartoonist and writer. He is most famous for his socialist cartoons, especially those drawn for the left wing political magazine The Masses between 1911 and 1917.-Early Years:...
, Saxton Pope
Saxton Pope
Saxton Temple Pope was an American doctor, teacher, author and outdoorsman. He is most famous as the father of modern bow hunting, and for his close relationship with Ishi, the last member of the Yahi tribe and the last known American Indian to be raised largely isolated from Western culture...
, and William "Chief" Compton. Grayson made his first bow from a lemonwood
Lemonwood
Lemonwood is the African highlynd tree Xymalos monospora. It can also refer to:* Calycophyllum candidissimum , a South and Central American tree* Pittosporum eugenioides , a New Zealand tree...
stave that he won selling tickets to a movie about Art Young
Art Young
Arthur "Art" Young was an American cartoonist and writer. He is most famous for his socialist cartoons, especially those drawn for the left wing political magazine The Masses between 1911 and 1917.-Early Years:...
's trek across Alaska.
In private practice in Sacramento, Grayson took up archery again. He became skilled in making various types of bows and became involved in local, regional, and national archery associations. He has won many medals in competition, at one time holding the amateur record for the 65-lb class in flight shooting. Hunting expeditions and professional travel provided opportunities to collect archery-related materials in areas such as Mexico, British Columbia, Alaska, and Africa.
In 1960, Grayson and his wife built a house in Oregon where they retired in 1972. There he added a building to house his vast archery collection and related materials like thumb rings, ivory sculpture, and paintings. He began donating his collection to the University of Missouri Museum of Anthropology in the early 1990s.
Archery Collection
Dr. Grayson collected archeryArchery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
from all over the world. His archery collection spans artifacts from 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...
, Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, as well as more contemporary pieces from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
(England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) as well as the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Dr. Grayson also collected bows from Fred Bear
Fred Bear
Fred Bear was an American bow hunter, bow manufacturer, author, and television host.He was born in the town of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Although he did not start bow hunting until he was 29 and did not master the skill for many years, he is widely regarded as a pioneer in the bow-hunting community...
and collected many of the record setting flight bows from Harry Drake
Harry Drake
Harry Eugene Drake was an archer and bowyer. Drake was an early pioneer in work on modern implementations of the composite bow design.-Biography:...
.
Academic career
In addition to being an avid collector of archery and archery related objects, Dr. Grayson also researched and published on archery topics. Many of his articles appeared in the magazine, Primitive Archer. Shear, for example, discussed the effects of shear in the construction of both self bows and composite bows. He also wrote a variety of articles about archery traditions from around the world such as, Somali Archery, Eskimo Bows, Arrows, and Quivers and Wintu Archery.Grayson was a member as well as Vice President of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries.
He was an inductee in the Archery Hall of Fame
Archery Hall of Fame
-Inductees:1972* Fred Bear* Howard Hill* Ann Weber Hoyt* Karl E. Palmatier* Ben Pearson* Maurice Thompson* Russ Hoogerhyde1973* Robert P. Elmer* Russ Saxton Pope* Rube Powell* Clayton B. Shenk* Art Young 1974* Dorothy Smith Cummings...
in 2005.