Jerry Slocum

Jerry Slocum (born June 5, 1931) is an American historian, collector and author specializing on the field of mechanical puzzles. He worked as an engineer at Hughes Aircraft prior to retiring and dedicating his life to puzzles.

His personal puzzle collection, numbering over 40,000 mechanical puzzles and 4,500 books, is believed to be the world's largest. In 2006, the Association of Game & Puzzle Collectors awarded Slocum with the Sam Loyd Award.

In 2006, Slocum donated over 30,000 puzzles to the Lilly Library at Indiana University: marking the first time a major collection of puzzles was made available in an academic setting.

Slocum's first book, Puzzles Old and New, published in 1986, was the first comprehensive book to include all types of mechanical puzzles with hundreds of color illustrations of antique puzzles. In the introduction Martin Gardner predicted that the book would "remain a classic for decades."

Slocum has appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Martha Stewart Living, and eight other nationwide TV shows.