On March 18th Kelly and I went to a Johns Hopkins Alumni event at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum. We had both wanted to go to the museum for a while. Kelly was actually supposed to go once earlier but couldn't make it. I didn't realize there was anything special about this event I just figured it was a good reason to go. Wow was that an understatement.
When we got there about 2 PM we found out the Steve Geppi himself would be giving us a personal tour. This museum is essentially his personal collection of pop culture and entertainment memorabilia. Having Geppi give the tour was like someone giving you a tour of their house. It was really amazing to see how much he enjoyed the collection and how much he knew about it all.
The museum has a very large collection of rare and important comics in one section. The comics alone are worth millions. Not all the comics are old or unique, some are just important for being the first appearance of a character or a particular use of the comic medium. There are also computers that you can read through scanned versions of many of the comics.
The other sections of the museum are sections of history sorted by time. Each section is a period of time and a collection representing that time period. The items show how cartoon and comic characters were used throughout history to advertise and sell. Most of the items are in mint condition no matter the age. Geppi indicated they are always looking for better versions of items that aren't in good condition.
Often the items came from the original creators or designers. In other cases Geppi said they would purchase complete collections from people who had managed to get everything of a particular line of items.
In the hallway connecting the collections there were posters, newspaper comics and other artworks. Some of them were 6'x6' or 6'x10', truly huge. Other items were the original artwork from newspaper comics. There were also some very rare animation cells from movies or cartoons.
I highly recommend visiting the museum. It is a great history lesson as well as possibly a walk down memory lane. Even if you aren't a comic or cartoon fan I promise you will enjoy it and learn something.
Leave a comment