When Bass Pro Shops won Scene Savers' first-ever $10,000 Grant Giveaway at the 2025 AMIA conference, the award created an opportunity to preserve a remarkable cross-section of American outdoor media history. Working with archivist Jacqueline Bonsee, Scene Savers received film elements dating back to the 1940s and 1950s from the Fred Bear Archery Collection, along with videotapes containing Bass Pro Shops, Ranger Boats, Bill Dance, and Roland Martin commercials.

The historical significance of the collection was immediately clear. Fred Bear is widely regarded as a pioneering figure in modern bowhunting, an innovator, filmmaker, and founder of Bear Archery whose work helped bring archery into the mainstream and whose legacy remains deeply influential in sporting culture and conservation history. His films and related media are more than brand artifacts; they are primary-source records of how outdoor recreation, product innovation, and media storytelling intersected in the mid-twentieth century. Likewise, the commercial tapes document a later chapter in that story: the rise of influential outdoor brands and personalities who helped shape public enthusiasm for fishing, boating, and outdoor television. Figures such as Bill Dance and Roland Martin were highly visible ambassadors who helped define the look, voice, and reach of outdoors media for generations.

For Scene Savers, projects like this are a reminder that preservation is always about more than content alone. It is about safeguarding context, material history, and future access. Through our signature white glove service, these assets were handled with preservation-grade care from intake through return. Every step was approached with the understanding that these originals are irreplaceable: they were carefully managed, digitized, rehoused, and documented to protect their long-term value and ensure they are usable in the present.

Jacqueline shared her appreciation after the collection came home: "in far better condition than when they left!" She also noted, "I was pleasantly surprised by how fast the turnaround was. The project was completed quickly but without compromising the quality of work."

The newly preserved content may be used at the Wonders of Wildlife Museum, as well as in internal communications and external marketing. Just as importantly, Jacqueline reflected that preserving the collection gave her "a renewed sense of purpose and pride as an archivist knowing that these assets are preserved and accessible for the future."

We are honored that Scene Savers' first grant could help bring renewed access to such meaningful materials and we invite readers to look for news about future Grant Giveaways in upcoming issues.