Andrew Ebling: Owner and Archivist of the Hintlian Colt Special Order Ledger Records. 

My historical preservation background is rooted in working local historical society museums as a kid, and then gaining a business major and a history minor at the University of St Thomas in St Paul, Minnesota in the early 2000s. My background in business helped pay the bills while I dabbled in historical research on the sidelines. Today, I'm focusing more on building a history minded business in the form of being an 01 FFL and doing archival research with my company Bookhouse Boys LLC / Arms Chronicle.

In early 2025, the opportunity to add a once in a lifetime grouping of original antique Colt specific ledgers and written material to my archive collection came along.  Former Colt Collectors Association Historian Don Jones was ever so gracious enough to give me the opportunity to be the next caretaker of these hallowed records.  They are one of the truest largely untapped conduits for amazing opportunities in future archival research support to the collecting fraternity, extant.

The Hintlian Colt Special Order Build Record Ledgers have been known to collectors and researchers for many years, having passed through caretaking hands of a limited number of archivist minded researcher/collectors who sought to preserve these amazing texts. These same caretakers also sought to make them available to the collecting fraternity, paving way to those that desire to know more of the story the opportunity to enhance the provenance of their antique Colt.  The story of John Hintlian, the man responsible for much of the preserved original texts held in our archives, is a fascinating one.  Hintlian saved and preserved a true untold amount of material from multiple firearm makers, not only Colt, and is responsible for multitudes of surviving gun manufacturer's material now held by collectors and institutions across the globe.  Hintlian is the man front and center that we owe a debt of gratitude towards for enabling past, present, and future generations of collectors the ability to add further provenance to their collections.

In addition to the aforementioned archival research area of focus, I'm a Life Member of the Colt Collectors Association, a Life Member of the Texas Gun Collectors Association, member of the Smith & Wesson Collectors Association, and Twin Cities based Heritage Arms Society. I also administrate and run the Minnesota Colt Collectors Group, one of the longest/largest continually running regional and regularly meeting and Colt-centric clubs in the United States.  Minnesota Colt Collectors  has been meeting since circa 1990, going over 35 years strong since founded by Lynn Kvam.   

We welcome you to this site and look forward to corresponding with you about any research we may be of assistance with for your project!