The green curtain dress worn by Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind is one of five needing restoration. (Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin/Associated Press)

Gone With the Wind fans have demonstrated they really do give a damn when it comes to Scarlett O'Hara's dresses.

People from across North America have donated enough money to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin to restore dresses worn by Vivian Leigh in the 1939 movie.

It took just three weeks for the Ransom Center to meet its target of $30,000 US in a public campaign geared at preserving the gowns.

The Ransom Center wants to restore five of the dresses, including the green velvet gown Scarlett created out of old curtains in an effort to woo a husband. The Civil War drama won nine Oscars.

The costumes, from the collection of Gone With the Wind producer David O. Selznick, were described as being in a fragile condition and in need of restoration.

Most costumes weren't made to last beyond the production of a film, curators said, adding that deterioration is inevitable.

The museum said more than 600 people from 44 U.S. states and 13 countries contributed to the appeal.

The centre plans to restore the dresses and purchase protective housing and custom-fitted mannequins to allow for them to be exhibited.

The Ransom Center, which has held the Selznick collection since the 1980s, is planning an exhibit to mark the movie's 75th anniversary in 2014.

The centre, which chronicles popular culture, also holds items from the collections of actor Robert De Niro, screenwriter Ernest Lehman and actress Gloria Swanson.