David Rollin Smith, more commonly referred to as just Dave Smith, was born October 13, 1940, and raised in Pasadena, California. He was the son of librarians and educators. He earned his B.A. in history and a Masters Degree in Library Science from the University of California at Berkeley.
Before Disney, he had library and archival experience while working in the Manuscript Department of the Huntington Library in San Marino, interning at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and being on the staff of the Research Library at UCLA.
While the proposal for a Disney Archives was submitted in January 1970, it was not officially approved by the Disney Company until June. Smith became a Disney Company employee on June 22, 1970 and was the company's first archivist and the only person in his department. His first assignment was to document all the items in Walt Disney's offices.
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[Jim Korkis has] interviewed Dave many times over the decades. The following is an excerpt from one [Jim] did with him on March 16, 2005 at the Walt Disney Story Theater in Main Street Exposition Hall at the Magic Kingdom in Florida. It was done on stage in the afternoon in front of more than 300 eager cast members.
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