Business history has become increasingly important in recent years as historians realize that the activities of major corporations are often as significant as those of governmental agencies in influencing people's lives. Some corporations have had international impact. How many people in the world have not heard of a Ford auto-mobile, a bottle of Coca-Cola, a Kodak camera, or – Mickey Mouse?
Walt Disney began his company in 1923 in Holly¬wood, and it was the first animation studio to be located there. Walt Disney Productions has grown in just over fifty years from a small company producing short cartoons for distribution to theaters to a widely diversified, multi-million dollar corporation involved in motion pictures, themed amusement parks, publications, recordings, merchandise, educational materials, and other ancillary activities within the general field of family entertainment.
In 1970, the Disney family and the management of Walt Disney Productions made the decision to create the Walt Disney Archives to collect and preserve the history of Walt Disney and his entire organization and make it available to researchers both inside and outside the company. The Disney Archives was patterned after similar business archives that have been established over the past few decades. Family-founded and family-run corporations are frequently the first to set up archives, and such companies as Eli Lilly, Ford, DuPont, and Firestone are among the earliest. They often desire not only to preserve the records of the company but to honor and keep alive the memory of the founder.
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The collections of the Archives consist of three primary types of records – business, creative, and product.
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The business records include […]
The creative records of the company encompass […]
The products of the company are the most visible part of the Archives […]. Items within this category include:
1. Films – […]
2. Books – […]
3. Comic books – […]
4. Phonograph records – […]
5. Tape recordings – […]
6. Awards – […]
7. Promotional materials – […]
8. Press clippings – […]
9. Still photographs – […]
10. Insignia – […]
11. Character merchandise – […]
12. Employee publications – […]
13. Audio-Animatronics – […]
14. Props and costumes – […]
15. Walt Disney memorabilia – […]
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