I chose to explore the Finding Aid for the Walt Disney Productions Publicity Ephemera, 1938-198x. Right off the bat, I was able to tell from the title that I would be introduced to the era of publicity for the Walt Disney films (more specifically from 1938 to the 1980s). The abstract ensured me that I could expect to see things in the collection such as press books, press kits, and photographs, among other publicity related materials. In addition, I found out that the collection was housed at UCLA and that one could only access the collection with advance notice to the UCLA Library, Performing Arts Special Collections Reference Desk.
The Finding Aid also gives a brief biography of the Walt Disney company as well as the content of the collection, stating that the collection contains publicity for over 150 Disney titles. As noted, this collection is organized alphabetically by project title.
However, I was extremely disappointed to find that the “container list” which listed the title of a Disney production, what item of publicity it was, and which box and folder the particular item was in, did not give any additional description of the item or how the production was received by audiences. Therefore, the only true narrative that I was able to pull from this Finding Aid was derived from the biography that gave a brief history of the Walt Disney Productions. Based entirely on the records of this collection, my narrative of this collection is missing key history tied to each particular film/short animation and the effect that the press had on each of these (i.e. how it was received by audiences and its success in the theatres). Most importantly, because the biography states that the company reputation suffered after Walt Disney’s death in 1966, I would have liked to know how this affected the production company’s efforts to publicize its animations. Overall, I did not find the Finding Aid for the Walt Disney Productions Publicity Ephemera very informative. However, it did convince me to go see the collection for myself in the near future.
I was also interested in the Walt Disney collection and I really enjoyed reading your post!
This is a unique collection because it focuses on the publicity aspect of Disney films, rather than anything else about the films themselves. I too would like to get a narrative about the publicity of Disney, and it is disappointing that there was no narrative from these pieces. I also love and agree with what you said about missing pieces. The death of Walt Disney had to have drastically changed and altered the public image of the company, and it would be very interesting to see exactly how this altered publicity of Disney. It would also be interesting to know why exactly he died and how his cause of death affects public view. For example, if he died of natural causes the company would be shadowed in grief, support, and empathy. If he died in some kind of controversy and scandal, the company would have been viewed very differently.
It’s very interesting. When I noticed what the Disney Finding Aid would be about, I assumed that it would give film information, specifically information that as a Disney junkie, I already knew. I decided to look at the Japanese Internment Camp one and was disillusioned with how little information it gave, almost too broad without giving enough context or stating its position. I think this is also what happened here. I would have also wanted to see how the company suffered after Walt’s death, not only knowing that it did. Additionally, I find it frustrating that it did not contain additional information about each film, as a short description would help one refine their searches. Lastly, one thing that I did find interesting is that it was alphabetized. Contrary to the one I noticed, it focused on specific dates, but they were not in chronological order. I think having some sort of organization would be ideal and helpful to whomever is looking at the finding aid.