Growing up, I saw my dad work on his prized collection of Star Wars memorabilia. He had a rule: whenever he came across a collectible, he bought one for me to play with, and kept the next for display. I wouldn’t get to play with that one, no matter how tempting. Three decades later, I have my own rule: whenever I see a Titanic VHS tape in a shop, I buy it for my own collection.
Titanic has always been my favourite film, and I have converted my home office in Florida into my own personal Titanic museum. The 2,682 tapes cover my walls like wallpaper. I have my own Jack Dawson mannequin too.
When I was six, my parents took me to see the film in the cinema. I was in awe. I love everything about it: the heartbreaking and terrifying history, and the epic scale of the production. The cast is also fantastic. I adore Leonardo DiCaprio and think he’s an incredible actor. I bought my very first copy with my parents when it first came out in 1998. Being able to rewatch it whenever I liked changed my life.
Years later, in 2012, my girlfriend and I found a dozen or so Titanic VHS tapes for sale in a secondhand store. That’s when I got the urge to start collecting them all. It’s really taken off in the past year, though. I started sharing footage of the collection on social media. Soon, people from all over the world started sending their copies to my PO box. Some go even further, looking in secondhand shops and sending me huge boxes of tapes. I have copies from Australia, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and more. It’s a pretty awesome feeling to know that so many people are invested in helping the collection grow. My partner and I like keeping count of how many we own, but it can be hard to keep track with all the new packages we get.
We’ve had so many deliveries that my PO box was temporarily closed, and I was brought in for questioning by the staff. They wanted to know why I was receiving so many parcels. It gets pretty wild, with hundreds of cardboard boxes and packages cascading over my dining table. I spend hours checking each tape isn’t damaged. If it is, I don’t add it to the collection.
A lot of people understand what I’m doing and want to help, but then I also get people who ask why I do it. I’ve had the occasional death threat. The positivity I receive outweighs the negative, and I try to push past bad comments.
I prefer VHS tapes over DVDs, because Titanic originally came out on VHS. It doesn’t get much better than that. I mainly have the original versions, but there are also some special widescreen ones, which have gold covers. To say that I’m running out of space to house my collection would be an understatement. People can only see the collection online as I’m nervous about letting people into my home. My dream would be to own a touring Titanic museum bus. I could drive it all around the country, and maybe the world, and people could come in and see my collection.
I think the most special thing I own is an actual piece of the Titanic. It’s a piece of an original deckchair and has been authenticated. It feels very special to own a piece of history from one of the world’s most famous historical events.
In the US, 25m copies of Titanic were sold on VHS in the first three months, so I think owning all of them might be a bit of a stretch. I’ve spent about $4,000 (£3,170) on the collection so far. I think they’re actually going up in value because VHS tapes are rarer nowadays. I mostly find them in secondhand shops or even church sales, but it’s the donations that really make the difference. I am pleased to say I have the largest documented collection of Titanic VHS tapes.
I would absolutely love to obtain a Guinness World Record for the collection, but sadly they have a rule that qualifying collections cannot contain duplicates. I’m hoping there might be a way to be considered some day, but ultimately I don’t need a record to be proud of my collection. And to all those neglected Titanic VHS tapes, I’d like to say: near, far, wherever you are, I need you in my collection.
• As told to Elizabeth McCafferty
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