WARREN, Ohio — In the coming months, Meghan Reed, director of the Trumbull County Historical Society, and her team of a dozen staff and volunteers will be busy unboxing, researching and labeling prop after prop — large and small — from the collection of Warren native and owner of Modern Props, John Zabrucky.
“We really hope that this project will ensure economic impact and growth for Warren,” Reed said.
In the Modern Props collection, there were early pieces created by Zabrucky in the 1970s, including props used in Star Trek, Austin Powers and 200 other Hollywood films.
Overall, Zabrucky has sent more than 550 props, about nine truck loads, from the 70s to the present. Included are items from Sci-Fi classics, like Ghostbusters, X-Men, and Men in Black to name a few.
“And he had been looking at a couple places throughout the country to donate his collection, so it can be part of a museum,” Reed said. “He really recognized the impact of the pieces he had made. And he wanted them to be available to the public.”
Zabrucky said the attitude was so positive.
“I just had this feeling that, you know, maybe this could actually happen,” he said.
Zabrucky still resides in California, but the Kent State University graduate said Ohio remains close to his heart.
He hopes when the museum opens its doors for the first time, it will appeal to not only Sci-Fi fans, but fans of films in general.
“I think it can be an important kind of genesis for a much, much bigger collection,” he said. “They may find it exciting and quite honestly, I think that people that aren’t particularly visually oriented, would like it just because there’s a connection to Hollywood.”
Reed said it will take upward of $20 million in funding to make the museum possible, but they do have a location: 410 Main Ave. Southwest, near downtown Warren.
Reed hopes the museum will be an experience that appeals to the whole family and inspires young minds.
“Hopefully starting to spur the next generation of Science Fiction creators as well,” Reed said.
The future Sci-Fi museum fundraising campaign is expected to kick off this month. Reed expects contributions from local donors and a grassroots effort from the Sci-Fi community.
The goal is to have the building renovated and museum open by 2026.
