The Archive at 30: Mark Salotti

Steve writes:

 Longtime friend and fellow collector Mark Salotti (who co-authored Coining a Galaxy with Archive editor James Gallo) fondly remembers finding his way to the site in its early days, reflecting on how it impacted him and created globe-spanning friendships that remain to this day. Cheers, mate! 

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Mark writes:

Most Aussies only had internet access at work in the early '90s, but my brother enrolled into an I.T. course and signed us up at home, and it wasn't long before I stumbled across the Star Wars Collectors Archive. I had always considered myself well-versed in Star Wars toys, but discovering the Archive opened my eyes to wonders I had never before seen, or could ever have imagined.

Every day thereafter I would check the "What's New" section and delight in the latest contributions. I remember when friends visited we would load up several Archive pages, and go watch an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (sorry, it's: collect Star Wars, watch Star Trek) whilst my 28.8KB dial-up modem s-l-o-w-l-y downloaded the images (my new 56KB modem in the late '90s was lifechanging)!

Shortly after discovering the Archive, I reached out to Gus Lopez, and recounted my local experiences collecting POTF Coins, which were my focus, and just collecting in general, and I was moved by how generous he was with his time and knowledge. Soon enough, we were bouncing emails daily, and I was also regularly communicating with Chris Georgoulias and Ron Salvatore and other editors of the Archive, and then in 2005 I finally met them all in person at Celebration 3 in Indiana.

These early conversations lead to friendships that I never would have thought could have been possible -- given the distances between us, and how infrequently we actually met up in person -- and the friendships continued, developed and strengthened as the years passed, much to my joy and continued happiness.

Today, I have travelled the world, given presentations at multiple Star Wars Celebrations, visited countless collections, proposed to the partners of several friends and even attended a wedding, all thanks to Star Wars. Although, as I write this, I realise that had I not typed "Star Wars" into WebCrawler 30 years ago and discovered the Star Wars Collectors Archive, my life would have unfolded considerably differently; so really, Star Wars was the cause, but the Archive was the effect that had the profound affect on my life.  

A heartfelt thank you and congratulations to Gus and the team for 30 years of informing and entertaining collectors, bringing people together and making the Galaxy a better place.

Looking forward to the next 30 years with much admiration and gratitude from this Aussie "mate" to the Archive and all who grace it with their hard work and dedication.