WALTER ELIAS DISNEY, with his brother Roy, started the Disney Bros. Cartoon Studio in 1923. In 1928 Walt made history by creating, with the help of his trusted colleague, Ub Iwerks, the character of Mickey Mouse. The Mickey Mouse cartoons were immediately popular and ensured the success of the company. Soon the Disney artists began work on their first animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Other animated features followed, until World War II when much of the company’s effort went into making training and propaganda films for the military. The end of the war brought peace, but prosperity took a while to arrive at Disney’s doors. Cinderella and the move into live-action films with Treasure Island in 1950 marked a return to financial success. A series of popular True-Life Adventure nature films and a move onto television with a regular weekly program gained the Disney Studio added recognition, but it was the building of Disneyland, the first real theme park, in 1955 that finally made the Disney company financially secure and enabled Walt to attempt new projects. Just before his death on Dec. 15, 1966, Walt was busy planning his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), which he felt would help solve some of the country’s urban problems. Walt Disney left a lasting legacy, one which The Walt Disney Company continues to expand upon today.

THE WALT DISNEY ARCHIVES was established by Roy O. Disney, Walt Disney’s brother and Chairman of Board, who determined that significant assets and documents relating to the history of The Walt Disney Company should be gathered and preserved, and that the recollections of key employees should be documented. Chief Archivist Emeritus Dave Smith was officially hired for this purpose on June 22, 1970, and since then, the Walt Disney Archives has curated millions of historic items, including books, art, awards, photographs, merchandise, props, costumes, and much more. The Archives team has assisted in research and review of hundreds of scholarly and documentary works in varied media and produced numerous exhibits for the presentation of the The Walt Disney Company's respected and beloved history to the public.