Support Us

Imagine if Edmund Bert's friends had preserved his personal effects after his death: bells worn by his tiercel "Wormes" or maybe the manuscript of his influential book.

Imagine being able to see a hood once removed from a falcon's head by Frederick II, a glove worn by Taymur Mirza, a lure belonging to Charles D'Arcussia.

Such objects may still exist but, as far as we know, they have been permanently lost to the falconry community. Fortunately, many important relics of falconry's heritage do exist in private hands around the world. However, some important items are not accessible to other people that might gain interest, pleasure or knowledge from them. In addition, once the owner dies, what becomes of the items then? Would friends or relatives preserve them or would they discard a battered old hood that once passed through the hands of Adriaan Mollen and James Edmund Harting, unappreciative of its significance?

The Falconry Heritage Trust needs your support to ensure that what we have left of the world's falconry heritage is not lost, destroyed or carelessly disposed of. Our Internet archive means that falconers, academics and the media can have access to important items electronically without them ever leaving the owner's possession. It also means that the physical location of these items can be stored securely and confidentially so that artefacts can no longer disappear without trace. Whatever your background, interest or experience in the sport, you can play a part in preserving this precious heritage for the future.

Please follow the appropriate link/s to offer financial support, support us in kind, donate items or to offer your services as a volunteer.

In Kind Support

There are a great many archives, libraries, museums and other institutions around the world which, as part of their own collections, hold items relevant to falconry's social, cultural and practical history. Such institutions continue to play a vital role in preservation of this history, though we recognise that it is not possible for all artefacts within a collection to be fully accessible at all times. Your institution may store items which, though not necessarily part of a main exhibit for the wider public, are of immense significance to falconers. Alternately, you may hold items of falconry furniture or works of art which many falconers would be unable to access for geographical reasons.

Our electronic archive aims to allow falconers, academics and others the widest possible access to our shared global heritage without having to travel or make special arrangements to examine certain items. We are keen to forge links between physical archives through a common thread of falconry and hope that you might consider permitting us to use images of your material in our archive. You might wish to stipulate that copyright remains with your collection and that we act as a link to you for interested parties. Alternately, you may be interested in reaching an agreement whereby images of your material are available from our site for a charge which benefits you, the FHT or both parties. You may, as a falconry club librarian, hold duplicate items which would be welcome additions to our expanding physical archive, or consider loaning items for display.

We very much hope that we can form reciprocal agreements with institutions around the world which share our goals of protecting important items of the fabric of history, making our passion for our particular sport one that we can ultimately share with the wider world. Please contact us to discuss ways in which we can work together.

Volunteers

If you are as passionate about the heritage of falconry as we are, why not support us by becoming a volunteer? Falconry's history in many countries is obscure and poorly recorded so it is important to prevent further material and information being lost to future generations.

If you are able to gather and co-ordinate material for a country or region - not necessarily your own - you will be making a very valuable contribution to the preservation of falconry heritage and, by association, national and world heritage. In short, you will be making history!

Volunteers are vital to our mission - please contact us for further details.