Phil, whether your intention or not, you certainly started and egged on a thread challenging NGLA attributions, and you gave Cirba yet another forum to muck up everyone's understanding of that history based on his misunderstanding of the articles posted. Whatever game you were playing, it was pretty irresponsible and no doubt did damage to the common understanding of the accurate history of NGLA.
As for Merion, I never challenged their design attribution either. There are plenty of good reasons to credit Wilson with the design, including the fact that he laid it out, was involved with CBM in planning it, was responsible for the placement of many of the fairway hazards and finishing touches, and directed many of the early changes including the changes due to Ardmore Ave. in the early 1920's and the implimentation of the bunker project which was apparently not finished until after his death.
I did challenge whether Wilson was mainly responsible for the initial routing and hole concepts, but surely today's attribution is based on more than that. Merion, through their self-appointed internal historian and non-member mouthpiece, were informed of my intentions prior to my essay coming out, and rather than take it to Merion or suggest that I take it to Merion, they demanded that I post it immediately for all to read. Plus, they had both already expressed, in no uncertain terms, that Merion wanted nothing to do with me or my research, and given their reaction since, this is still the case.
In fact, TEPaul once emailed me to tell me that the heads of certain prominent committees at Merion were aware of my research and were quite upset by it and wanted it to stop. The message was that they wanted nothing to do with me, and that they never would. Wayne's messages to me confirmed this. I realize now that TEPaul was likely lying, but at the time it seemed probable enough, given Wayne's similar comments.
Fortunately for you, you don't have to deal with the likes of TEPaul or Wayne Morrison, people who insert themselves into the middle of the process and insist that all communications go through them. Even my private messages to the club have been immediately forwarded to these two jokers, which in my mind is an incredibly disrespectful act of what I thought was supposed to be a classy club. Given the reaction of all involved since my essay came out, the advice I received to NOT go to Merion was definitely sound.
As for the Merion information which has come out on these threads, I wish you were joking. The source is MERION, particularly Wayne Morrison of Merion. As recently as last week he was going over Merion's supposedly private information with posters to try and convince them to support his attenuated reading. He is supplying SELECT information knowing and expecting that they will post it here. There is nothing private about this information, except that Wayne doesn't want me to have it, and has apparently convinced those at Merion to keep me from it.