Herb Jorgensen stands alongside a shiny, red 1931 Packard — a stereotypical gangster car built when he was 12 years old.
Gazing across the car collection, the 91-year-old archivist for the Blackhawk Museum knows he’s enjoying a car buff’s dream job.
The Blackhawk Museum, the brainchild of Blackhawk developer and car collector Kenneth Behring, opened its doors in 1988. Now affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, the museum boasts two spacious buildings and about 100,000 square feet of upscale exhibition space that plays host to a rotating display of nearly 100 automobiles.
For the past 22 years, Jorgensen has overseen the building of the museum’s modest-size research library, a collection that currently stands at approximately 100,000 publications. Many are in excellent condition, while others, including a 1904 Auto Car magazine, have covers that are a bit dog-eared and showing their age. All of them, however, provide a glimpse into the history of a machine that has changed the world.
“It probably is as good a library on old cars that you’ll find anywhere,” Jorgensen said. Story from Contra Costa Times.
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