Museum Collection looking for a home

[Herman]

\
I am posting this for a friend of mine who owns this collection. I have no connection with it but I can verify it is legit. If anyone can help, drop me a PM with your contact info and I will pass it along to the right people.

Heman


Hello Divers!
For several years, the North Carolina Maritime Museum Hatteras/Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum has hosted a history of diving exhibit featuring vintage equipment of both historical significance and ties to North Carolina. With the museum closing for an extended overhaul, we are seeking a new place for these items to be shown to the public, with the goal of preserving the history of diving.

We have been in contact already with all NC Maritime Museums, NC aquariums, the History of Diving Museum in Islamorada, the Man in the Sea Museum in Panama City, and the Avalon Diving History Exhibit on Catalina, but, while there is interest, it seems that no one has display space.

So, we are asking if anyone has any suggestions for a location that could display this equipment with appropriate security. If you have ideas other than the places noted above, please reply.

For further info:
Focal points of the display are the evolution of scuba equipment including the first type of regulator manufactured in the United States and the shift of regulators from double hose regulators to single-hose. Also featured is the progression of safety in recreational diving including the first diving certification available in the United States and early safety devices. The current display further includes a small part on the development of underwater cameras.

Potential enhancements for the exhibit from the existing collection include homemade diving equipment to show how ingenuity and some surplus parts were all one needed to be an underwater pioneer; military scuba diving equipment; and other items including cameras and tanks.

We are seeking to put the exhibit on loan in a location where it will continue to educate and inspire generations of explorers from those who used the equipment when it was new to those who will go on to use gear not yet developed. The exhibited items can be scaled up or down to fit a space, or even placed on a rotating basis, so space utilized would be determined by availability. For protection, items would be placed behind barriers.

No financial gain or benefit of any kind is sought other than to carry forward the preservation of diving history.

[Flakotter]

As a former employee of the NCMM, it is an impressive collection. I would suggest they reach out to public aquariums as a potential host facility. Just a thought.

[BigSwell]

Herman, I've passed this onto a few old coworkers at Scripps (Birch Aquarium) with your scubatools email in hopes that they may have interest. It would make a great exhibit no doubt.
-Kevin