It was only years after he passed away when link I was 23, that it hit me that my grandfather was a systematist more than anything, a consummate collector not (just) of objects, but of knowledge and the context of an object link – of what came before and what would develop after. He was a published author on Great Lakes maritime history and Midwestern railroads, and wrote articles for the bulletin of the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors. His curiosity for these link subjects knew no bounds.