Anthony Casale, a USF Tampa graduate student, designed the exhibit as part of an independent study. James Schnur, Special Collections librarian for the library, served as Casale’s supervisor for the project.
Casale spent 11 hours Friday, April 15, setting up the exhibit with the help of Schnur. Casale first began working on the project in December. By late January, Casale had designed mock-ups at home of how the displays would look. The idea initially stemmed from a project in the Archival Management course he took at USF St. Petersburg in fall 2010 under Schnur.
“I mentioned to [Schnur] my Transformers collection as a possibility because it’s so extensive, and honestly I thought he’d say no,” Casale said. His collection has 800 figures covering over 25 years. “But as soon as I told him of the size and scope of the collection he not only approved—he was downright enthusiastic about it. Once that project was finished, we started talking during the Christmas break about my wanting to pursue an independent study with him this spring.”
For his independent study, Casale was able to expand on his idea for a Transformers exhibit.
“He has worked on a number of projects, one of which was to develop a museum quality exhibit that would attract the interest of students, faculty and library visitors,” Schnur said. “Since he had developed a database of Transformers collectables as a major project for my class last fall, we both agreed that he should select some of the best examples of original Transformers and other memorabilia for an exhibit.”
Casale acquired all the toys for the display. All but nine of the collectibles are from his personal collection he’s gathered over the last 25 years. Casale also has established connections with other Transformers collectors locally, on message boards and on eBay, which helped him gain the pieces for the exhibit outside of his own collection.
Casale now sees the Transformers as “something with longevity, relevance and staying power, which has spoken to subsequent generations,” growing into more than toys from the ’80s. He hopes the exhibit unites everyone that has ever cared about the brand and that viewers can “re-live whatever the Transformers meant to them,” he said.
“For me, the best thing that could possibly come out of this exhibit would be the sight of a parent and child bonding over it,” Casale said.
Although Casale said it was pure coincidence that the exhibit comes just before the summer movie, “Transformers: Dark Moon,” he thought the timing was almost perfect.
“I couldn’t be happier with how well it turned out, as well as the interest and sense of excitement that it seems to be attracting,” Casale said.
Story and photo by Robbie Crowley, campus & beyond editor ’10/’11
