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Kevin Hutchison has been collecting Hollywood film pieces since he was 15 years old. While always fascinated by movies, he never considered himself a huge movie buff; rather, his collection is more nostalgia-fueled—Kevin largely collects pieces from movies he finds a childhood connection to.
With little means and a resourceful spirit, Kevin didn't merely bid on collectible pieces at auction—he hunted them down before they hit the auction block. "It was the late '90s and I would search what few sites were out there for pieces for sale, and then I'd reach out to the seller and try to figure out how they got the item and what else they had." In fact, Kevin still uses this process today. He searches the internet and uses forums and memorabilia dealers to find leads on potential collections out there. For example, when Kevin came across a piece from Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind online, he contacted the seller and found it was someone helping a costume designer from the film clear out her home and then was able to affordably acquire more collectible pieces. It's this kind of detective work that has allowed Kevin to amass a collection of over 1,000 film treasures without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In fact, proving that one person's trash is truly another person's treasure, Kevin has saved many collectibles that were destined for obscurity. One of his largest collections, from the Tim Burton film Sleepy Hollow, was acquired from the back of an open pick-up truck as a historical society was getting rid of the pieces in 2008. The museum-quality items were getting drenched with rain before Kevin saved them. Some had been loaned for use in an outdoor Halloween display.
While some collections come to him in poor condition, others are already archivally preserved. When Kevin acquired a large collection from MGM of over 900 lbs. of costumes from the movie Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise, each of the costumes had already been lightly cleaned, wrapped in muslin and hung on padded hangers.
Kevin has done his best to give his collections the care they deserve but, like many, faces challenges when it comes to preventing deterioration. Because all of his objects are primarily stored in a storage unit in Northern Ontario, Canada, Kevin struggles with maintaining an ideal environment, but proper storage containers can go a long way. As a result, with the help of Gaylord Archival, Kevin is embarking on a preservation journey to safely store almost 200 complete costumes and props.
Kevin has already experienced some mild deterioration of some of his items and recognized the need for proper storage quickly. “After conducting much research and seeking insight from folks in the industry, I felt Gaylord was the best choice to help me properly preserve my collection,” he says. Ultimately, Kevin’s biggest hurdle is lack of supplies – currently much of his collection is stored in plastic tote containers. Because of the size of Kevin’s collection, it is going to be quite a large undertaking to store everything properly, so we aim to help him by providing proper materials and guidance in textile preservation.
All of Kevin’s collection is currently in his possession; nothing is on loan. Kevin does receive requests to loan out his pieces, but he is often reluctant: some pieces take him more than 5 years to track down, so he has a strong emotional connection to many of them and is hesitant to loan anything out unless it is to the right institution. He needs to feel confident that the object would be well taken care of, so it can endure and be displayed and eventually sold to a future collector. Kevin still spends about two hours of every day tracking down and acquiring pieces, and wants to do his part while he is caretaker of the items.
Kevin has, however, hosted several charity exhibitions of his items. For the 13th anniversary of Sleepy Hollow in 2012, he held an exhibition of 40 items from the film to benefit non-profit organizations in Canada—the largest collection to be shown since the original studio auction. You can read more about this exhibition here.
Kevin hopes to do more charity exhibitions in the future and potentially loan out some of his pieces for museum exhibitions. Just a few noteworthy pieces from his large collection include:
From Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow: The 8’ tall, 4’ wide, 500 lb. Iron Maiden (the only one made for production); the Headless Horseman’s costume, sword and ax
From John Hughes’ Vacation: The original license plates from all of the vehicles featured, including the LUV ME license plate from the 1981 Ferrari Christie Brinkley drove in the film
From Valkyrie: Tom Cruise’s costumes; the briefcase that carried the bomb to assassinate Hitler
From The Shining: A version of the original screenplay; a mirror used in the film
From The Flintstones: John Goodman’s Fred Flintstone costumes
From Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: The original costume for Ragetti the one-eyed pirate
Gaylord Archival is proud to help Kevin on his quest to preserve these amazing movie treasures. Look for updates on his progress and challenges as we continue to follow his epic journey.
All photos courtesy of Kevin Hutchison
