Originally Posted by Cindy
Hey, We are just starting and need pretty much everything. I am just now getting enough items to fill the place a bit. We need enough gear that we can do progressive displays for each type of gear. The closest we can come to that is with manifolds. Bill Oigarden brought us his personal collection of five that show the progression of how they developed through the years. Also I hate to give someone a list and not have them give us something that is unique because of the history behind it. A reel used to lay the first line in Madison blue may be one that is common but the story of how it was used, who owned it etc. makes it unique. What we are asking now is for people to donate what they have with a small write up of the item. We will sort out what we want displayed and either return or store for later any repeats. We really have not gotten more than one or two repeats. Most vintage cave diving equipment was either hand made or altered by an individual. Things like line arrows, old examples of line, dorf markers, masks, fins, bc, clorox bottles, etc. may not sound very exciting but they are needed. We don't have a metal backplate yet for example. Just think if it has some meaning to you then it will most likely make a cool exibit.
We are still lacking in books, photos, maps, videos and other forms of media that are cave diving related. All we really have of those items are from my personal collection.
Not to make this too long a post but intact collections are very important and hard to find. Part of the frustration is that a set of gear from any one era just does not seem to exist. Mary Ellen Eckhoff has joined our BOD and is helping us reconstruct a full set of gear that Sheck Exley used. We can't put one together right now. We need a full set of gear from each decade. Then I can "loan" or put displays into other museums as well as have complete ones for us. Just personally contact me or any BOD member if you need any more information. Remember anything you donate is tax deductable.
Cindy Butler :D
