Michael Harvey, Curator of Cinematography at the National Media Museum said: “This Collection comprehensively documents Ray Harryhausen’s career and working methods. The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation and the Museum are excited by the potential of this important Collection and the world-wide interest that its preservation and subsequent availability will generate, both in the film industry and the audiences that love Ray Harryhausen’s work.”

The Museum and the Foundation are preparing to embark on a fundraising campaign to secure the Ray Harryhausen Collection which will enable it to be preserved at the National Media Museum and made available for exhibitions, publications and scholarship. It will preserve the tools and techniques of traditional animation for future generations.

An exhibition entitled "Ray Harryhausen - Myths and Legends" opens today at the London Film Museum. The exhibition will be focusing on the work of Ray Harryhausen and showcase the techniques he used to bring his Dynamation creatures to life and will run for 12 months.

The National Media Museum
The National Media Museum in Bradford, West Yorkshire, opened as the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford in 1983, with a remit to explore the art and science of the image and image-making, and has since become one of the most visited UK museums outside London.

The National Media Museum aims to be the best museum in the world for inspiring people to learn about, engage with and create media.

The Museum is devoted to film, photography, television, radio and the web and looks after the National Photography, Photographic Technology and Cinematography Collections.  Its Television Collection incorporates an unrivalled collection of objects relating to the history and development of television, including John Logie Baird's 1923 experimental apparatus.

The Museum organises three major film events every year – Bradford International Film Festival and Bradford Animation Festival and Fantastic Films Weekend.  It also hosts three cinemas – Pictureville, Cubby Broccoli and the first IMAX screen in Europe.  The Museum shows films in all of the major formats from Cinerama three-strip, to digital, to IMAX 3D.

The Museum is home to two temporary exhibition spaces and recent programme highlights include Don McCullin – In England and Live by the Lens. Die by the Lens: Film Stars and Photographers.

Other attractions at the Museum include a host of galleries including permanent galleries Experience TV, a hands-on visitor experience about the history, present and past of television, featuring TV Heaven, the Kodak gallery charting the history of photography, the Animation gallery, and the Magic Factory for the young and young at heart.  Learning activities for families and schools bring the Museum’s subject matter to life and there are regular cultural events for adults to complement the Museum’s changing programme.

For more information visit www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk

The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation
The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation is a charitable Trust set up by Ray Harryhausen on 10th April 1986. It is the primary aim of the Foundation to protect Ray’s name and body of work as well as archiving, preserving and restoring Ray’s extensive collection.

In addition, the Foundation is firmly committed to show and exhibit, for educational and enjoyment purposes, all of Ray’s unique collection and films.

The Trustees include Ray and Ray and Diana’s daughter Vanessa Harryhausen who is determined to protect and conserve her father’s name and reputation in the film industry.

It is hoped that during 2010 the Foundation will be able to make huge strides in finding funding for the ongoing preservation, the first of which will be the publication of a new book to be called Ray Harryhausen – A Life in Pictures that will be available on Saturday 26th June at Ray’s 90th birthday celebrations at the National Film Theatre in London.

For more information visit http://www.rayharryhausen.com