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More than 500 items from Disney history – from Walt Disney’s birth through Marvel’s The Avengers – are part of the largest exhibit every created by the Walt Disney Archives when D23 PRESENTS: Treasures of The Walt Disney Archives and opens July 6 at the Ronald Regan Presidential Library and Museum.
Showcasing the boundless creativity and unbridled imagination that helped define 20th century entertainment, the 12,000-square-foot exhibit – for which the Reagan Library has constructed an entirely new exhibition space – continues through April 2013.
Many of the items have never left the Walt Disney Archives and are being publicly displayed for the very first time. Artifacts on exhibit will include:
• An early drawing of Walt Disney’s first major cartoon character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
• The actual 9½-foot tall head of the Maleficent dragon from Disneyland’s Fantasmic! nighttime spectacular
• The fully rigged, 23-foot model of the Black Pearl pirate ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean films
• Meticulously restored, handmade books used in the opening shots of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty
• The very first ticket ever issued to Disneyland – No. 000001, with a face value of $1
• Miniatures hand-built by Walt Disney, which helped lead to the development of Disneyland and Audio-Animatronics figures
• The very first piece of Disney merchandise ever created: a child’s school writing tablet
• Walt’s own Disneyland name tag – as Cast Member No. 1
• A complete re-creation of Walt Disney’s formal office from the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif.
• Original Audio-Animatronics figures from The Haunted Mansion, The Country Bear Jamboree and Pirates of the Caribbean
And more. . .
Additionally, D23 PRESENTS TREASURES OF THE WALT DISNEY ARCHIVES features an entire section devoted to items that celebrate the connection between Walt Disney and Ronald Reagan. Photos, letters – including a hand-written draft of a letter from Reagan to the U.S. Postmaster General urging the creation of a special Walt Disney stamp – and an assortment of archival items underscore the close personal and professional relationship between the two men, and Reagan’s commitment to honoring Walt Disney’s legacy.
Check-out Photos from the special media event below. (Video from the Exhibit is posted above.)
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