The Revs Institute for Automotive Research at Miles Collier’s spectacular car collection houses a treasure trove of historical printed materials and photographic images.
The Revs Institute is an educational organization that advances the scholarly study of automotive history at The Miles Collier Collection in Naples, Florida. Numbering more than one million items, these distinctive and highly specialized research books, documents, printed memorabilia and images have been collected by Miles Collier to record the history of the automobile and the individuals and organizations associated with it. Scholars, journalists, automotive connoisseurs, enthusiasts, collectors, racers and preservationists can avail themselves of an automotive history library and archive with few peers.
The research materials in Collier’s collection illuminate the complex and intertwined facets of the automobile, which range from its function as individualized transportation and its recreational and sporting use to its force as an agent for social change, The archive also focuses on sustained critical appreciation of the best automobiles as legitimate objects of art equaling in significance the finest architecture or furniture.
If you’re interested in researching legendary racing powerplants, the Weber-carbureted Tipo 250 DOHC Six (above) in 1953 -1958 Maserati Formula One cars or need to see a photo of Umberto Marzotto driving his Lancia B20 Aurelia in the Italian Dolomiti Rally in July 1953 (below, Copyright Auto Italiana) Revs should be your destination. Within its rich and ever expanding collection of more than 300,000 photographic images, you can explore the history of transportation, motorsports, technology, design, industry and historical preservation.
The photographic archives include a number of individual collections. Miles Collier’s Collection of more than 40,000 images covers historically significant automobiles, racecars and events and industry and motorsports personalities. Within the Bruce R. Craig Collection are more than 25,000 photographs that chronicle 20-th century motorsports. More than 7,000 photographs taken by author-photographer Albert Bochroch document racing in the United States and Europe from the 1950s through the 1970s. Other collections within the Collection include one-of-a-kind scrapbooks and photo albums with rare historical images of transportationand military vehicles.
The Revs Institute Library/Archive is open by appointment and more information can be found at:http://www.revsinstitute.org/