The Smithsonian, Trying to Stay Cool and Collected

Boll says his clients are "always honored to be approached by the Smithsonian" but "are not always willing to surrender the item." Take client Barbara Eden, star of "I Dream of Jeannie," who Boll says is not yet ready to part with her genie bottle.

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Things likely would be different if the museum threw some cash around. That's how it is for Don Bernstine, the Orlando-based manager of acquisitions for the Hard Rock Cafe chain, who oversees a collection of about 70,000 music-related objects worth $45 million. (The American History Museum owns 94,000 entertainment artifacts but doesn't assign values to them.) Bernstine, who has been with the company for about five years, wouldn't specify his budget for memorabilia purchases, only that "it's enough."

Bernstine's wish list? Just two things: items from Led Zeppelin and Metallica. (He has had dinner with Jimmy Page multiple times to try to get Zeppelin gear, but Page is "hanging on to his legacy," Bernstine says.) Everything else -- guitars from Black Sabbath, stage clothes from the Beatles and the Ramones -- is in Hard Rock's possession.

"It's like Christmas every day," Bernstine says of his job. "You just want to run to the tree and rip open the presents."

Not surprisingly, the best time to get big-name celebrities to fork over the goods is when said celebs are promoting a new movie or album or DVD. Think: Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky" donation of autographed boxing gloves and other costumes last December tied to "Rocky Balboa," and Bruce Willis's gift of a shirt, timed to "Live Free or Die Hard" in June, both to the American History Museum. The Hard Rock Cafe is awaiting the donation of a Queen guitar in London tied to a new DVD.

A Planet Hollywood spokeswoman declined interview requests, but the company has been collecting memorabilia over the past year from the horror film "The Hitcher," "The Condemned," a thriller starring Steve "Stone Cold" Austin and the kids' movie "Bratz." They also reportedly own James Bond artifacts, such as a bikini from "Dr. No," "The Blues Brothers" memorabilia and Charlton Heston's loin cloth from "Planet of the Apes."

Bowers doesn't like to think of donation ceremonies as publicity stunts. "It would in many ways cheapen the artifact," he says. "And would also make its longevity and meaning to the American public slightly different because it would be for that moment."

Not everyone at the museum agrees: American History Museum spokeswoman Valeska Hilbig says ceremonies with celebrities help publicize the museum's work and the collections they acquire.

Willis donated his character John McClane's grubby undershirt and other "Die Hard" gear at a media-packed event.

"I think the ['Wizard of Oz'] ruby slippers are far cooler than this shirt and badge here," Willis said. "But it's an honor to be included."

And how does the fake-blood-covered shirt fit in with the museum's other pop treasures?

Bowers wants to show it next to Harrison Ford's costume from "Indiana Jones" and Sigourney Weaver's from "Alien" as part of an exhibition on the evolution of action heroes. He might even incorporate westerns, which also deal with heroes battling seemingly insurmountable forces.

Back in the storage room, surrounded by rows of cabinets jammed with his hard-won treasures, Bowers says that the public tends to have an emotional connection to the collection before any kind of intellectual response.

"They feel a sense of ownership," he says. "I wish our audience would think about the material to be sure, but I'm very interested in seeing the tear in their eye too."