A Look Into Corporate Archives: The Walt Disney Archives
D23. (n.d.-a). Alice in Wonderland (film). D23. Retrieved May 14, 2024, from https://d23.com/a-to-z/alice-in-wonderland-film/
During one of my early classes, we were tasked with an engaging group assignment: analyzing a specific type of archive. The options ranged from government archives to historical societies and corporate repositories, with group being assigned based on our individual research interests. Once our group formed, we embarked on the challenge of selecting a case study. Together, we explored the repository type, examined key policies, reviewed the types of archival records held, and delved into preservation practices. After thoughtful discussion, we finalized our choice of archive, assigned roles within the team, and determined the format for our presentation. Below, I’m excited to share the results of our collaborative analysis.
Corporate and Business Archives: The Walt Disney Archives
By: Nicholas Hendry, Drew Johnson, Mickayla McDowell, Matty Mcpherson, Carel Miske, and Christine Schindler
Professor: Dr. Jessica Bushey
Date: March 5, 2024
Introduction
Corporate archives are intended to hold the historical records of the company and are primarily focused on meeting the needs of internal stakeholders (Bushey, 2024). Depending on the nature of the company, the archival materials may include those related to leadership, company structure, fiscal records, marketing and outreach campaigns, research and development documentation, intellectual property records, regulatory and compliance documents, and other matters relevant to creating an accurate and thorough collection in support of the archives’ statement of purpose (Steering Committee Roster, 2018).
As indicated in the Society of American Archivists’ 2018 Steering Committee Roster, addressing the importance of business archives in North America, it is becoming increasingly critical to have corporate archives. With fewer employees spending decades within the same company and possessing vast institutional memory, there is a risk of knowledge loss. This loss may lead companies to repeat previous mistakes, duplicate research efforts, or waste valuable resources due to a lack of easy access to the company’s history. Therefore, corporate archives are repositories of knowledge, and the relevant materials must be readily available to those who need the information and are authorized to access it.
Repository Type
This paper discusses and analyzes corporate archives and the preservation management strategies that they employ. Our group chose this type of repository based on our individual interests. Some of us are interested in working in corporate archives, while others are exploring lesser-known archival repositories. We conducted this introductory study into business archives to help inform our future career paths.
Our group decided to focus on a large and creative repository: the Walt Disney Archives. Following the death of Walt Disney in 1970, Disney executives discussed creating an archive to preserve the company’s history. Dave Smith happened to overhear this discussion and seized the opportunity to become the founder and first Walt Disney Archivist (The Walt Disney Company, 2013). The Walt Disney Archives are located in Burbank, California, a city within Los Angeles County. As the Walt Disney Company is a large, international corporation, it oversees other archives under its umbrella, including but not limited to Pixar, National Geographic, Fox, and many more. This study specifically focused on the Walt Disney Archives, not others associated with the company.
According to the Society of American Archivists’ Directory of Corporate Archives, the Walt Disney Company repository holds “more than 12,000 boxes of documents and merchandise items, a library of more than 25 million photographs and several thousand historic props and costume pieces,” (Steering Committee Roster, 2018). Currently, only Disney employees, qualified writers, researchers, or general members of the public who have made advanced appointments by special permission can access the archives.
The Walt Disney Archives were established to “collect, preserve and make available for research the historical material relating to Walt and the company he founded,” (Walt Disney Archives, n.d.a). Currently, The Walt Disney Archive is undertaking a groundbreaking exhibition to celebrate the 100 years of The Walt Disney Company. They have created immersive exhibitions in London, Chicago, and Kansas City. This innovative showcase helped to inspire and inform the following study (Walt Disney Archives, n.d.b).
Key Policies
While a document outlining the key policies related to preservation and collections management for the Disney Archives has never been publicly released, significant interviews and archival resources help deduce the overarching policies, practices, and implications for the Disney Archives. Starting back in the late 1960s, the idea for an archive began to take shape with the passing of several key figures, including Walt Disney himself. Initially, there was a plan to preserve Disney’s “correspondence files, office furnishings, and memorabilia,” but staffers realized the impracticality of separating Disney, the man, from the company’s various endeavors spanning over forty years. Disney himself had alluded to this before his passing, stating, “You see, I'm not Disney any more. I used to be Disney, but now Disney is something we've built up in the public mind over the years. It stands for something, and you don’t have to explain what it is to the public,” (Thompson & Ovalle, 2021).
By the time Dave Smith finalized the establishment of the archive in June of 1970, its main goal was “to collect, preserve, catalog and make available for study and use the historical material relating to Walt Disney and the entire Disney organization,” (Thompson & Ovalle, 2021). In a 1998 interview with Animation World Magazine, Smith emphasized this policy in action. For instance, an element like the animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, wasn’t merely being transferred to a home video release, it was being utilized for “books, records, educational materials, computer software, an attraction at Disneyland,” even featured on the Disney Channel, Disney cruise ships, and other platforms (Mason, 1998). Smith noted that “not many others reuse their past as much as Disney does,” and emphasized the need for a department that compiles accessible information from the company’s past.
The archive was designed to allow rapid access and availability to Disney’s intellectual properties (IPs)–past and present–for researchers “from all areas of the Walt Disney Company” with a focus on branding and preserving all aspects of history (Seale, 2020). Consequently, there is extensive documentation of many events across Disney’s history. By the 1970s, this included everything from awards to tape recordings, press clippings,WW2 insignias. employee publications, props, costumes, as well as Disney’s personal memorabilia and office preserved as an exhibit. By the late 1990s, business email correspondence between executives was also being preserved.
Storage of such varied elements necessitated ample space with appropriate environment conditions. While archiving and element cataloging initially used index file cards, they later transitioned to a digital FileMaker Pro database. Disney Archives Director Becky Cline anticipated the implementation of a “new collection management system that will encompass all of our collections in one big database that we can cross-reference and link them together so that we can look up information about the objects with images of the objects and also their location,” (Seale, 2020).
Today, as the Disney media empire has expanded, it now “covers the history of all areas and brands under the Disney umbrella – including ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and now 21st Century Fox,” (Silvero, 2023). Due to the exhaustive size of the business archive and its assets, Archives East has recently opened. In addition to the preservation, storage, and cataloging, the 21st century has seen the Disney Archives expanding policy to focus on exhibiting the collection. Here, the archives’ policy is evident in “telling a story that's 100 years of history in 15,000 square feet”, echoing Disney’s original intention of presenting history as something familiar to the public (Silvero, 2023).
Type of Archival Records
As the mandate of the Walt Disney Archives includes “historical material relating to Walt Disney and the entire Disney organization” there is a vast number of records in its collection, encompassing many different types. In fact, the first group of records was inventoried in 1969 by the future founder of the archives, Dave Smith. It included everything that had been left in Walt’s office since he passed away in 1966, remaining untouched. This alone included 2,269 items (in 464 boxes) including furniture, papers, awards, and assorted memorabilia (Thompson & Ovalle, 2021).
Since then, the collection has grown to include costumes, film props, concept art, scripts, replicas of animator’s offices, employee badges, tickets to the company’s various theme parks, and numerous other records relating in some way to the company. These aren’t limited to older films or characters, as costumes and props from more recent films have been featured in exhibitions organized by the archives over the past few years. While information on specific holdings, especially paper records, was difficult to find, some have been documented through video footage available on YouTube.These videos have been produced both by D23 and by individuals recording their visits to the archives’ exhibitions. The full extent of the archives’ holdings remains unclear; the largest number of records displayed as part of an exhibit was 450, during the 2021-2022 exhibit in Memphis, Tennessee (Farmer, 2021).
Notably, the Walt Disney Archives is not the only archival repository maintained by Disney. The Disney Animation Research Library, located in Glendale, California, contains 12 vaults (as of 2017) of records related to its animated works, which are unavailable to the general public. There is little to no publicly available information on whether there is a clearly defined boundary between the collections held by both archives, and as a result there may be significant overlap in regards to animation-related records (Taylor, 2017).
Some of this lack of transparency and external access may also be due to the need to protect trade secrets and other intellectual property, and the requirement to ensure compliance with privacy laws regarding personally identifiable information contained in personnel records, internal and external communications, and other business materials (Bushey, 2024). As such, most of their policies and preservation efforts will tend to be directed towards the needs of the internal stakeholders and compliance with company policies and any applicable laws.
Preservation Surveys
The holdings of the Walt Disney Archives comprises a diverse and extensive collection of material from costumes, props, ephemera, and images–both still and moving–in multiple formats, pertaining to the Disney parent company and affiliates, such as ABC news and the Fox archives (ArchivesAware, 2020). Access to the collection is provided to the public through various outreach activities from exhibitions–traveling, traditional stand-alone, and online–as well as publications.
Each element of the collection requires its own preservation considerations. For example, costumes will have different temperature and humidity storage and preservation conditions than film, paper, or artwork. Digital assets in the collection require additional consideration of long-term storage, access copies and migration to future formats. A robust preservation management program begins with collection mandates and policies. While preservation policies extend the life of a collection beyond its immediate uses, a good preservation program will identify priority areas within the collection and allocate resources (Child, 1999).
Preservation surveys offer an in-depth examination of the holdings at both the repository and the collection levels. Repository-level surveys are high-level reviews of the organization, from buildings and collections policies to storage of materials. On the other hand, surveys at the collection-level provide information targeting specific areas of holdings or a specific fonds (Patkus, 2003). Given the size of the Disney Archives and the recent incorporation of the Fox Archives into the organization, an institutional review would be valuable. Disney could benefit from utilizing The Collections Trust Benchmarks in Collection Care 2.0. for Museums, Archives and Libraries, which provides a comprehensive checklist for organizations, covering various elements of preservation management, including collection policy, buildings, exhibitions, pest management, handling and use of the collection, storage areas, and environmental monitoring (MLA, 2011). The Northeast Document Conservation Center survey is another resource with worksheets on various aspects of the preservation that could be used in conjunction with the Collections Trust Benchmark (Patkus, 2003).
Policies, surveys, and checklists are important components of preservation management. However, four factors are key to the success of preservation programs: advocates from executive/senior management, adequate and consistent funding, comprehensive analysis, and support from all areas within the organization (Ritzenthaler, 1993).
Conclusion
Our research suggests that creating a preservation survey for a corporation is likely to be a complex process. The level of complexity would depend on various factors, including the purpose of establishing the archives, the nature of the materials being preserved, and the intricacies of the company and its holdings. Given the significant emphasis on internal stakeholders, it is unlikely that companies, such as Disney, would publicly release their preservation surveys. These surveys are likely considered company documents requiring the same level of protection as any other internal policy or procedural document. Moreover, companies may view their preservation strategies as a competitive advantage, safeguarding their historical knowledge from potential loss or compromise. This could explain why the Disney archives, for instance, only offer their statement of purpose to the public.
This lack of disclosure could pose challenges for novice corporate archivists attempting to conduct a survey of corporate archives while adhering to best practices. Corporate archivists may be bound by non-disclosure agreements, making it difficult to share their knowledge and skills they’ve developed through experience. Consequently, while surveys applicable to the Disney archives or other business archives exist, they may not be consistently applied or contribute to a communal body of best practices, as is common in other types of archives. This could further complicate the already challenging process of conducting preservation surveys in corporate archives.
References
Bushey, J. [jessica bushey] (2024, September). Interview on Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle [Video]. Panopto. https://sjsu-ischool.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=1586c594-f36c-4b88-9cdb-b0fa01715539&start=0
Child, Margaret. (1999). Planning and prioritizing: 1.5 collections policies and preservation. Northeast Document Conservation Center. https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/1.-planning-and-prioritizing/1.5-collections-policies-and-preservation
Farmer, D. (2021, June 17). Check out the new location and dates for the Walt Disney Archives exhibit. KennythePirate.com. https://www.kennythepirate.com/2021/06/17/check-out-the-new-location-and-dates-for-the-walt-disney-archives-exhibit/
Mason, K. (1998, September). Inside Disney: The archives and animation research library. Animation World Magazine, 3(6). https://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.6/3.6pages/3.6masondisney.html
MLA. (2011). Benchmarks in collection care 2.0 for museums archives and libraries. https://collectionstrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Benchmarks2_updated__Oct_2014-3.compressed.pdf
Patkus, B. (2003). Assessing preservation needs: A self-survey guide. Northeast Document Conservation Center. https://www.nedcc.org/assets/media/documents/apnssg.pdf
Ritzenthaler, M.L. (1993). Implementing a preservation program. In M.J. Pugh & L. Lucas (Eds.), Preserving archives and manuscripts, (pp. 5-19). Chicago: Society of American Archivists. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015071452380&view=1up&seq=5&skin=2021
Seale, R. (2020, March 3). There’s an archivist for that! Interview with Rebecca Cline, the Director of the Walt Disney Archives. ArchivesAWARE!. https://archivesaware.archivists.org/2020/03/03/theres-an-archivist-for-that-interview-with-rebecca-cline-the-director-of-the-walt-disney-archives/
Silvero, B.F. (2023, February 17). Walt Disney Archives Director Becky Cline takes us into The Disney Vault for Disney100: The Exhibition [Exclusive interview]. SlashFilm. https://www.slashfilm.com/1193096/walt-disney-archives-director-becky-cline-takes-us-into-the-disney-vault-for-disney100-the-exhibition-exclusive-interview/
Steering Committee Roster. (2018, May 14). Directory of corporate archives in the United States and Canada. Society of American Archivists. https://www2.archivists.org/groups/business-archives-section/directory-of-corporate-archives-in-the-united-states-and-canada-w-z
Taylor, D. (2017, February 3). A rare trip inside Disney’s secret animation vault. Vulture. https://www.vulture.com/2017/02/the-disney-vault-is-real-heres-what-its-like-inside.html.
The Walt Disney Company. (2013, May 16). Preserving the legacy: The Walt Disney Archives. The Walt Disney Company. https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/preserving-the-legacy-the-walt-disney-archives/
Thompson, K. and Ovalle, E. (2021, June 22). A historical legacy: The beginning of the Walt Disney Archives. D23. https://d23.com/a-historical-legacy-the-beginning-of-the-walt-disney-archives/
Walt Disney Archives. (n.d.a). Home / Walt Disney Archives. D23. https://d23.com/walt-disney-archives/
Walt Disney Archives. (n.d.b). Disney 100 The Exhibition. Disney. https://disney100exhibit.com/exhibition/
