RM Vivas
US Veteran
My degree thesis on Trophy Guns is progressing.
To make it fit within the parameters of what the History department is looking for, I can not provide just a historical background. There has to be some sort of almighty overarching question that the research desperately answers.
I don't agree with this concept but it's their rules and their game, so I go along with them.
The approved thesis statement is:
Thesis Statement
From 1917 to 1973 the New York City Police Department (NYCPD) awarded engraved revolvers to members of each graduating Police Academy class. Over the 56 years that this practice spanned, these awards, known as Trophy Guns, were awarded for a variety of accomplishments during training.
Of the various Trophy Guns awarded, the earliest, most consistently awarded and most prestigious was the Bloomingdale Trophy.
Sponsored by Hiram C. Bloomingdale of Bloomingdale department store fame (later Federated Department Stores), the Bloomingdale Trophy was the first Trophy Gun awarded.
Unlike some of the other Trophy Guns that came later and whose criteria changed with political winds, the Bloomindale Trophy remained consistent in its eligibility requirements: it was to be awarded to the top member of each graduating class who had the highest combined scores in "...physical and mental studies...". It was for all intents and purposes a valedictorians' gun.
An examination of the careers and accomplishments of these Bloomingdale Trophy recipients shows that they were more likely than their classmates to reach the heights of the department and to do so sooner. Being a Trophy Gun recipient marked one as being one of the best and brightest and destined for bigger things within the Department as ones' career advanced.
This then leads to all sort of stuff that isn't really relevant for our gun collecting purposes.
However, in order to assess whether these Trophy Gun winners were more likely than their peers to be 'raised up', it was necessary to try and create a short biography for each recipient.
I've attached a copy of the Appendix for the paper that lists the career biographies. It is not yet complete and it is hampered by a decided lack of source material.
Eventually, I hope to have the make model and serial number for each gun to match to the individual officer.
This paper only focuses on the Bloomingdale Trophy winners; when I'm done with the class I'll start folding in all the other Trophy Gun winners.
To make it fit within the parameters of what the History department is looking for, I can not provide just a historical background. There has to be some sort of almighty overarching question that the research desperately answers.
I don't agree with this concept but it's their rules and their game, so I go along with them.
The approved thesis statement is:
Thesis Statement
From 1917 to 1973 the New York City Police Department (NYCPD) awarded engraved revolvers to members of each graduating Police Academy class. Over the 56 years that this practice spanned, these awards, known as Trophy Guns, were awarded for a variety of accomplishments during training.
Of the various Trophy Guns awarded, the earliest, most consistently awarded and most prestigious was the Bloomingdale Trophy.
Sponsored by Hiram C. Bloomingdale of Bloomingdale department store fame (later Federated Department Stores), the Bloomingdale Trophy was the first Trophy Gun awarded.
Unlike some of the other Trophy Guns that came later and whose criteria changed with political winds, the Bloomindale Trophy remained consistent in its eligibility requirements: it was to be awarded to the top member of each graduating class who had the highest combined scores in "...physical and mental studies...". It was for all intents and purposes a valedictorians' gun.
An examination of the careers and accomplishments of these Bloomingdale Trophy recipients shows that they were more likely than their classmates to reach the heights of the department and to do so sooner. Being a Trophy Gun recipient marked one as being one of the best and brightest and destined for bigger things within the Department as ones' career advanced.
This then leads to all sort of stuff that isn't really relevant for our gun collecting purposes.
However, in order to assess whether these Trophy Gun winners were more likely than their peers to be 'raised up', it was necessary to try and create a short biography for each recipient.
I've attached a copy of the Appendix for the paper that lists the career biographies. It is not yet complete and it is hampered by a decided lack of source material.
Eventually, I hope to have the make model and serial number for each gun to match to the individual officer.
This paper only focuses on the Bloomingdale Trophy winners; when I'm done with the class I'll start folding in all the other Trophy Gun winners.