When John Downs Jr. was 17, he and his brother drove from their home in Charleston to Columbia, where they squeezed into the top row of the Carolina Coliseum and watched his favorite rock band — KISS.
Downs’ love affair with the band, known for its costumes, face paint, pyrotechnics and masterful marketing, has lasted more than four decades. In those years Downs, a Charleston business owner, has amassed a collection of KISS memorabilia that includes guitars, photographs, original artwork and costumes.
Source: University of South Carolina
And that collection now belongs to the University of South Carolina.
Downs and his wife, Margaret Norris Downs, offered the more than 400-piece collection to University Libraries after learning of the university’s acquisition of the Gary Lee Watson Comic Book Collection.
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he collection is comprised of approximately 400 items, including:
26 guitars, originally owned and signed by members of the band
Concert photographs by Len DeLessio
Early black-and-white signed photographs
Original artwork by Paul Stanley, KISS guitarist and a founding member of the band
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
