For this installment of Artifact(s) of the Month, we’d like to introduce you to the Biederman Collection. This collection is made up of many artifacts, including an exhaustive selection of Corvette-related print ads, postcards, magazines, and toys, curated over the span of decades by George Biederman.
It all started in 1977 when George bought his first Corvette. As he looked over the sales brochure, he thought it might be nice to collect all the brochures of the Corvettes that came before his. Then he started collecting print ads and newspaper ads, going back to the 1950s. As libraries went to microfilm, he would get the full-page ads, putting them in acid-free binders to keep them protected.
As the fun of collecting picked up momentum, he bought toys, models, and pedal cars, carefully logging each one in binders indicating when, where, and the cost of each toy, seeking out only the best examples, and protecting them and the boxes they were sent in. Original toys that go back to the 1950s look like new, with their boxes being crisp, clean, and apparently untouched by time.
With the collection taking up several rooms in his home, he expects it will take two truckloads to get it transported. As sad as it is for him to see it go, he knows that the NCM is the perfect place for it.
As a founding member of the Museum, he considers this to be the perfect home for what amounts to so much of his life’s work sharing, “I’ve seen how the Museum protects and presents Corvette history. They do that so well. I know that as they put parts of this collection on exhibit, people are going to say, ‘Hey, I remember when I had that toy.’”
