The bountiful film archives at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) just received an impressive infusion of desirable items donated to its collections at the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, including a historic animation hoard previously owned by Hollywood luminary Steven Spielberg.
AMPAS is home to the biggest film-related collection in the world and has been acquiring prints, posters, screenplays, newspaper and magazine clippings, letters, sound recordings, props, costumes, photographs, drawings, and production memorabilia since its founding back in 1927.
This Steven Spielberg Animation Collection which was generously given to the society’s permanent archives contains 157 pieces of original animation art dated between 1932-52. The AMPAS was so overwhelmed by the gift that it has even decided to rename its Herrick Library’s Graphic Arts department after Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw.
In addition to the treasure of Spielberg’s Animation Collection, many other donors honored the archives with a wealth of rare costumes, awards, production objects, scripts, graphic arts, and film and video elements. Pieces in the technology arena included clapboards from The Omen (1976), Thelma & Louise (1991) and Sleepy Hollow (1999), and a typewriter used by Frank Pierson to compose the screenplays for Cat Ballou (1965) and Cool Hand Luke (1967).
The Spielberg Family’s fantastic donation represented cels and setups from Disney classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Pinocchio (1940), and animation setups and cels for characters such as Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker.
Among the latest production objects donated to the Academy are Adelina Fortnight, Lionel Frost and Mr. Link puppets from Missing Link (2019), which were gifts from LAIKA studio in Portland, and the Jessie maquette from Toy Story 2 (1999), which was a gift from Ash Brannon.
“We are thrilled and honored to expand the Academy’s collection with these exceptional pieces,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer. “To be housed at our archive, library and museum, these vital components of the filmmaking process highlight the collaborative disciplines that develop and produce the movies we love. They also demonstrate the Academy’s unique capacity to preserve the full range of film history formats. We are incredibly grateful to our donors for their remarkable gifts to the Academy and for their commitment to illuminating our film history.”
