The International Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame is taking a bold step forward in preserving a large piece of skydiving history by announcing the creation of the Skydiving Photo, Film & Video Archive and Preservation Project. Museum President James F Curtis III today announced the birth of the Project initiative hallmarked by the acquisition of the irreplaceable and historic skydiving photo collection of famed freefall photographer Jerry Irwin.
True to its mission statement that the museum will “… promote the sport of skydiving through public education and awareness; recognize the contribution to skydiving by its participants, suppliers and supporters; …” and “… capture forever the history of the sport via its events, equipment, and personalities…”, this invaluable piece of history captured in Jerry’s images will be preserved before being lost or destroyed. The Program will use the latest technology to preserve and digitize tens of thousands of photos and countless hours of film and video by expanding the collection to include images taken by the best freefall photographers and videographers from all over the world. This amazing first step was made possible by the generous support of small group of anonymous donors enabling the Program to acquire the Irwin Collection immediately and work with professional archivists to preserve, digitize and catalogue the images.
Ultimately, the entire collection will be accessible to visitors at the International Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame when it opens in its new home at its future location in central Florida.