The “Preservation & Progress: The Ava Gardner Museum High Definition Partnership” project will propel one of North Carolina most unique museums into becoming a significant and “cutting-edge” east coast educational, cultural and historical resource for visitors, tourists, educators, authors, film makers, historians, and others.

The Essential Image Source Foundation and the Ava Gardner Museum have joined together to preserve the museum’s vast collections, utilizing high definition and electronic asset management technology, and to produce additional high definition cultural and educational interactive products, as well as producing new high definition videos for its theater.

Numerous regional community partners, such as the Johnston County Visitors Bureau, have also joined in their support, recognizing the cultural, tourism, educational and economic benefits to the surrounding regional communities.

The “Preservation & Progress” project will further fulfill the recommendations made by David Goist, Conservator, who evaluated the museum in 2001, thereby attaining the much needed preservation and conservation of the museum’s film and video footage, audio recordings and print media.

The museum’s vast collections of Ava Gardner’s footage, photographs, publications, posters, costumes and more, along with its wide-encompassing sources pertaining to filmmaking under the 1940’s Hollywood studio system, has made this a destination for researchers and tourists, alike. In the past twelve months, as an example, the museum has worked with six major publications and five book authors doing research. Yet, many other research requests and offers, unfortunately, had to be turned down due to a lack of cataloging, inventory, archiving and search capabilities of their collections. Collections stored in boxes and aging, deteriorating media has limited access, not only to the public and researchers, but also threatens the collections’ continued existence and conservation.

Ava Gardner, one of North Carolina’s own from the tobacco country of Johnston County, and the museum’s collections are an invaluable part of North Carolina and Hollywood history. “Ava Gardner was passionate about the arts and her affection for her North Carolina heritage is well-known,” said Angela Lawson, Executive Director of the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, North Carolina, Johnston County.

The current, permanent home for the museum opened in October 2000, in a renovated building in downtown Smithfield and its collections are beautifully presented in a manner as fascinating as Ms. Gardner, herself. Ava Gardner’s film career spanned 44 years and more than 60 movies. Remaining loyal to her North Carolina roots, Ms. Gardner visited her native home continuously throughout the years, however.

Born on Christmas Eve, 1922, in Brogden, a rural community seven miles east of Smithfield, Ava was the youngest of seven children. Discovered through the suggestion of a Lowes/MGM employee who recommended that her photographs be sent to MGM, Ms. Gardner was asked to do a screen test that led to a studio contract with the movie studio in 1941 at the young age of 19.

Ms. Gardner was subsequently married to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra. At age 33, Ms. Gardner moved to Spain where she remained for 10 years before moving to London, England, which was her home for 23 years prior to her death. Ms. Gardner, nevertheless, returned to the U.S. often to continue her film career and to visit her family and friends in Smithfield, North Carolina. Ms. Gardner died of pneumonia on January 25, 1990 and is buried, along side her parents and siblings at Sunset Memorial Park, in Smithfield.

The films, “Whistle Stop”, “Showboat”, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”, “Mogambo”, “The Barefoot Contessa”, “The Sun Also Rises”, “On the Beach” and “Night of the Iguana” (Golden Globe nomination for best actress) are only a few of Ms. Gardner’s fans’ favorites.

The Ava Gardner Museum, through its partnership with The Essential Image Source Foundation, will, through this sophisticated yet user friendly EISF high definition and electronic technology, be able to more readily rotate its collections, create and update exhibitions and programming, feature additional educational interactive plasma displays and host a variety of high definition screenings in-house, as well as throughout its regional partnerships, statewide throughout North Carolina, nationally and internationally.

Internships, local employment opportunities, and an Ava Gardner High Definition grant program for women in the regional and underserved communities will be integrated into the project, as well. Several universities and film schools will participate in related education, training and support. Significant film industry and regional community sponsors have been recruited for this project, in addition.

For updates on this progress of this project, continue to visit our web site and visit the Ava Gardner Museum’s web site at www.avagardner.org.