Many people resort to slang when referring to a haphazard, relatively useless index as a ‘Mickey Mouse’ index. But over in Burbank, California, the Walt Disney Archives can boast of having the only authentic and authoritative Mickey Mouse index. Of course, Mickey Mouse is not the only element in the vast indexes and catalogues of the Disney Archives, but the name seems appropriate.
The Walt Disney Archives came into being in 1970, when The Walt Disney Company decided to create a department to bring together all of the company’s history and to make it available when needed. As it is a company which makes great use of its past, from two- thirds to three-fourths of the work of the Archives is internal. But the Archives are also open, by appointment only, to students, writers and others who are doing serious research on Disney history.
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