Prince had many hardcore fans. However, he preferred to call them “fams” — as in family — because he felt that “fan” was short for fanatic. But he didn’t know Rich Benson, a bona fide fanatic.

Since moving to Minneapolis in 1998, the Wisconsin-reared Benson attended 127 Prince performances, mostly at Paisley Park. He has collected more than 5,000 pieces of Prince memorabilia from stage-used guitar picks to subway posters. He even shook Prince’s hand once.

Benson’s extensive collection is the source of “Remembering the Purple One,” a free exhibit on display in conjunction with the “Purple Rain” musical that bows on Oct. 16 at the State Theatre.

“I bought 150 photos from Billy Robin McFarland [local photographer] and that one is from Rupert’s, the benefit for Big Chick,” Benson said referring to a displayed close-up of a shaggy-haired Prince in 1990 performing at the Golden Valley nightclub fundraiser for the family of his late bodyguard, Big Chick Huntsberry.

“Remembering the Purple One,” which is spread across seven empty storefront windows in LaSalle Plaza in downtown Minneapolis, offers a history of sorts of Prince, who died in 2016.

The exhibit features posters, photos, paintings, ads, lots of magazine and newspaper clippings, a bottle of Prince 3121 perfume, and a customized “Purple Rain”-inspired motorcycle (that is not part of Benson’s collection). There is also a multistory atrium wall with giant blowups of 39 album covers released in Prince’s lifetime.

“Now that I have it out for the world, it’s another set of therapy, a way to deal with his passing and sharing with the world,” Benson said of this exhibit. “I think he’d be proud in an educational way, and it’s free to the public.”

Benson, 49, speaks more like a matter-of-fact archivist than a gushing fan. He relishes the backstory — and the provenance — of an item as much as the item itself such as mentioning that the Rupert’s concert was the first time keyboardist Rosie Gaines played with Prince in public.