PRESS RELEASE [For immediate release] SUBJECT: “The Future of History”© Jack L. Rea, Jr. has been working on a plan for the last two decades. A plan, which would finally address and hopefully solve the ongoing conflict between treasure hunters and academia, for the addressing of maritime artifacts in situ. A plan, which would not only allow for the sharing of all information and artifacts recovered by and with academia, but with the general public, while all artifacts remain the property of the people of the host government. (Treasure hunters lose out altogether in this plan.) Backstory: Mr. Rea, a second generation television & radio broadcast journalist since the late 60’s, began following a story in 1988 about salvage companies working in the Dominican Republic looking for treasure. His stories were broadcast on TV news and even on the front page, Sunday Edition, of the Houston Chronicle. He also met with and worked alongside PhD’s from Oxford, the University of Perth, NOVA Southeastern University and others as they conducted field schools and excavated shipwrecks around the island. “It was like a war zone between theses two sides and every effort to bring them together was futile.” Jack is quoted as saying. Not known to easily give up, Jack continued to work with both sides for over two decades to find out as much about what made each side tick and the advantages and disadvantages each had along with their failures and successes and the causes of why these happened. Mr. Rea could have stopped here and published his findings. “There were plenty of the elements required for not only a great news story but probably even a book, thesis or movie!” But then Jack had an epiphany! He had toured the impressive museum system in the Dominican Republic and had decided to see what other Caribbean Island Nations were doing with their cultural artifacts.
In 1992 he toured Puerto Rico and was amazed they did not have a nautical museum. He met with the governor, the heads of the different governmental cultural addressing agencies, the universities and even tour groups & guides. Jack received letters of support for his nascent idea from all these agencies and individuals and then personally went to Jamaica & the USVI and also met with the government and academic representatives from Cuba and other island nations and came to the same basic conclusion on all of them. They would all love to have not only their marine cultural resources addressed but also a museum displaying the artifacts and information for their own people to see and for tourists to share while also adding another attraction to draw more tourism. Their main reason for not having accomplished this on their own is simply the funding required. “Treasure hunters often have all the funding they need, but they take the artifacts and sell them to the investors and at auctions and they are rarely seen by the public after that. Academia, on the other hand, rarely has the funding it needs, however the artifacts and knowledge is shared with the world… if you travel to the sponsoring university, and with their permission, see them.” Jack explained. That is when Jack had his epiphany! “Why sell an artifact once, when millions of people will pay to see them for generations to come?” Jack explains, “Sure, investors will fund a treasure hunt, but investors also fund most any moneymaking venture. Most museums aren’t really structured to be profit generating but if it is structured properly, I believe they can be, as shown by similar museums in Key West, Florida and elsewhere I visited. The key is the gift shop. It will actually be a glorified gift shop with a built in attraction for the tourists to come in and see shipwreck artifacts and then browse the gift shop for replicas, t-shirts etc. completely funding the museum, excavations, research & field schools run by universities, while all artifacts will remain the property of the people of the host government. Mel Fisher’s museum attracts 52% of all tourists to Key West and if, for example, only 10% of the 4 million tourists annually to Puerto Rico
visit the museum, over $5 Million will be raised annually to support the projects and provide a nice return for the investors.” Jack has attracted Dr. Robert H. Baer, PhD from Oxford University, as his staff archaeologist and instructor for the field schools and Principal Investigator for any excavations and subsequent conservation. Jack is now trying to attract one of the leading master planners for museums with a worldwide reputation to sign on in advance of the funding offer to different funding groups around the world. He is also hoping for a letter of support from UNESCO. (Jack has met with representatives of UNESCO while in the Dominican Republic and they not only applauded his plan but suggested he contact UNESCO directly and he will be sending this Press Release to them as well.) Please see the link below for the synopsis of “The Future of History”; the CV’s for Dr. Baer & Jack Rea, letters of support etc. and see if your organization would be interested, at least in concept strong enough for a letter of support and even a commitment, if the funding is raised, to represent and or recommend this project to other entities which may assist and/or fund the project. “With the plan laid out with the support from several Caribbean Island Nations, Dr. Baer by my side and the commitment of a major international museum planner and hopefully the support of UNESCO, I feel the plan will be extremely marketable to investors providing the last key piece, the funding, to make this project, “The Future of History”, a reality.” Project Overview, letters of support, CV’s for Rea & Dr. Baer: http://issuu.com/jacklrea/docs/prism_2011 Initial Capitalization for museum project: http://issuu.com/jacklrea/docs/initial_capitalization First Full Year Projections: http://issuu.com/jacklrea/docs/first_full_year_projections Jack may be contacted at: TheMuseumGuy@yahoo.com