357-RevolverGuy, The Smith & Wesson Collector Assoc and the S&W Historical Foundation are separate organizations, with separate goals. Most SWCA members also belong to the SWHF, which is a tax deductible IRS entity devoted to research and restoration of S&W archives. The SWHF has funded almost 1/2 million dollars, from donations, etc., to preserve and digitizes S&W archives and is now also responsible for issuing the factory historical letters. They also issue, for a small fee, a research packet for individual revolvers, giving copies of whatever documents are in the archives for a specific gun that has already received a factory historical letter. Often you can find out great amount of very interesting paper tracks in the archives for your specific gun. No paper track, no fee. Ed.