Lock Collectors Hall of Fame

Donald E. 'Don' Stewart

Bio

Born on August 7, 1926, deceased May 3; 1999. Born in rural Iowa, Don spent his early years in the dust bowl areas of Nebraska and North and South Dakota. Always a collector, he collected arrowheads and other artifacts to be found on the plains. Don was involved with locks all of his life. Don joined the navy before his 17th birthday in 1943 and served in the Pacific until the end of the war. He received two purple hearts before his 19th birthday along with several citations and ribbons. In all, he was awarded four Purple Hearts from WWII. He studied architecture in college in northern Idaho, then began to build custom homes in Idaho in 1949. In 1965 Don left Idaho to work for ABC theaters in Arizona. Shown with his wife Barbra.

Contributions to Lock Collecting

The Hobby

In 1949 Don became captivated by antique keys and hardware from remodeling private homes and public buildings.

On March 11, 1995, Don auctioned off his lock and key collection.

Affiliations

Information required.

Accomplishments

Based on research of the keys he collected, he began his first publication of the Standard Guide to Key Collecting in 1975. This was followed by the Key Collectors' Journal starting in October 1978 and continuing through June 1994. In 1988 he began publication of the "Padlock Quarterly" which continued until Fall of 1994.

In addition to periodicals, Don published approximately 20 books about locks and keys. He also offered a large selection of early lock company catalog reprints. Don published a tremendous amount of material to assist collectors in learning about the lock and key hobby. All of Don’s books are with Richard Chenovick. The rest of his research is with Bosco Milligan Foundation in Portland, OR.