Well, AudioKarma is a good place to start! Welcome aboard.
You say you've been collecting TV's and radios for a while - have you done much electronic work? Have you repaired or rebuilt any radios? Do you know how to solder? Can you read a schematic? TV's are very complicated devices, and it's best not to just dive in and make a TV rebuild be your first restoration project, it might be more frustrating than you're up for yet.
I would suggest starting by recapping a radio, preferably a small All American Five type radio set. That'll get you used to working in this sort of a device. But, assuming you know what you're up against, press on.
Basically, TV restoration is similar to radio restoration - start by finding a schematic if possible. Here's a good way to find it - look for the chassis number of your television (not the model of the entire set, but the model number of the chassis. It should be printed on the back of the chassis somewhere). Then, punch that number into
www.samswebsite.com. That'll give you the Sam's Photofact number that applies to your set. Then, you can go to your local library, the main branch, and ask at the reference desk for Sam's Photofact #xxx-x. Hopefully, they have it, a lot of libraries do. Mine does. Although one person posted that their local library threw them all away years ago. Then, you can photocopy the schematic and information. The Sam's is nice to have, since it has pictures and diagrams and instructions on how to take the set apart and adjust it. Sometimes it's not immediately obvious how to remove the tuner, for instance.
Once you've gotten the schematic, and taken the chassis out of the television, put it up on the bench and clean it up, so you can see what you're looking at. With most tube type black and white televsisions, you're going to have to replace all the paper capacitors - this is just like recapping a radio. Only bigger, and much more complicated. Electrolytics are pretty important too, although it can sometimes be tough to find replacements, since TV's generally need 450volt rated filters. In TV's, it's even more important to do all work as neatly as possible, since there's a lot more stuff in there. I hope I don't have to mention to watch out for high voltage. The picture tube anode cap is several thousand volts, and B+ is in the hundreds. They're much deadlier than radios!
But, before you pick up a screwdriver, tell us something about yourself, what you've done before, and what you're not sure about. I'm more than happy to explain whatever you want, but I don't want to sit here for half an hour typing about basic capacitors when it's all stuff you already know. Also, a picture of the TV you're talking about, and other info, like the model number, and a good picture of the inside will help me be able to explain what does what. (as it applies to your television).
But welcome to the group! We're always glad to meet new TV collectors. There's only what, like three dozen of us wordwide...
-Ian