Anne Berry has joined the One in a Thousand campaign, designed to help the Hall of Fame prosper during the financial difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Berry, who is based out of the DC metro area, has been a long-time donor of ISHOF and utilized the Henning Library to do her Masters thesis on American Studies at George Washington in 1995. She looked at the growth of swimming pool culture between 1910 and 1950, and how the backyard swimming pool for many families became a symbol of success.
“I did some of my research at the Library of Congress, which was great, but there wasn’t anything like being at that (Henning) Library and seeing all of the magazines and reading all the articles and seeing the plans for the swimming pools and really having a deeper understanding of our history and about the role of the swimming pool in American society. I couldn’t have done it without the Hall of Fame,” Anne Berry said.
Berry, a former swimmer, had heard about the Hall of Fame through her teammates that qualified for YMCA Nationals during her high school years. When she was a college student at the University of Kentucky, she made her first trip to the museum during a spring break vacation and fell in love with it. A couple years later while at GW, she received a grant to do research at the Hall of Fame for her thesis.
“I have been a contributor to the Hall of Fame for over a decade,” Anne Berry said. “I have a lot of books on swimming and I am super nerdy about it. It has real value to me and I haven’t been back to the Hall of Fame since 1995 but I have always been grateful to them for being there when I was doing my research.
“It is important to me that the Hall of Fame continues to be able to tell the story of our sport and to collect research.
“I looked through people’s scrapbooks – they have scrapbooks from the late 30s to the early 40s of people who were swimmers. It was so awesome! The feelings that they had about swimming in 1941 were the feelings I had about swimming when I was swimming competitively. It was almost a link to the past because those were feelings that I could identify with, and it was super fun to look at the swimwear!
“If you don’t collect it, you risk losing it. And there is so much wonderful history of swimming and particular for women in swimming and how much harder women have to fight to participate in this sport, and I think it is really important to remind people of that.”
Join the One in a Thousand Club by helping ISHOF on a monthly or one-time basis.
For larger corporate sponsorships and estate-planning donations, please contact us at customerservice@ishof.org.
The International Swimming Hall of Fame wants to know if you are one in a thousand? We think you are! Show how special you are and become a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s “One In A Thousand” Club. Help keep the International Swimming Hall of Fame moving forward toward a new vision and museum by joining now!
During these unprecedented times, the ISHOF Board is calling on every member in the aquatic community to make a small monthly commitment of support to show how special you are and how special the International Swimming Hall of Fame is to everyone.
“Our goal is simple. If we get 1,000 people to simply commit $10, $25 or $50 per month, we will generate enough revenue to go beyond this Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis.” – Bill Kent – Chairman of the ISHOF Board
“Those that believe in our vision, mission, and goals can join us in taking ISHOF into the future and be a part of aquatic history.” – Brent Rutemiller – CEO and President of ISHOF
Since 1965, ISHOF has been the global focal point for recording and sharing the history of aquatics, promoting swimming as an essential life-skill, and developing educational programs and events related to water sports. ISHOF’s vision for the future is to build a new museum and expand its reach by offering its museum artifacts digitally through a redesigned website.
The ISHOF Board of Directors is calling on all members of the aquatics community to make a small monthly commitment to show their dedication to aquatics and how special the International Swimming Hall of Fame is to everyone.
