Margaret Herrick Library

The Margaret Herrick Library, located in Beverly Hills, California, is the main repository of print, graphic and research materials of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). The library contains a digital repository and has historical materials that include those relating to the Oscars awards show.[1][2]

Margaret Herrick Library
Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study, where the library is housed
CountryUnited States
TypeFilm
Established1928
Location333 S. La Cienega Boulevard
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Coordinates34.0605°N 118.3767°W / 34.0605; -118.3767
Websiteoscars.org/library
Map

Collection

The library has in excess of 1,000 collections including original film scripts, movie production records, correspondence and other materials pertaining to movie studios, production companies, individuals, and professional organizations.

The library also collects and maintains oral histories of the industry.[3]

History

The original research library was created in 1928, a year after the founding of AMPAS.[4][5] It is funded by the Academy Foundation, which is AMPAS' educational division. It one of the biggest film research libraries in the world, holding in excess of 32,000 books, 80,000 screenplays, and 300,000 files of clippings. Other materials at the library are 35,000 posters, 10 million photographs, copies of 2,400 periodicals, costume and production and costume sketches, sheet music and musical scores, and advertising materials, including press books and lobby cards. There are also artifacts such as Academy Award statuettes. The library is governed by the Academy's Board of Governors.[4]

In 1947, Herrick was responsible for the first acquisition of an archival collection: the William Selig collection.[4]

In 1953, Herrick worked to have the Oscars broadcast on television, which allowed the award ceremony and the library to become financially independent of the studios, upon which the show and library had been previously wholly reliant.[4]

AMPAS' research library was renamed for Margaret Herrick, who served as AMPAS librarian from 1936 to 1943 before becoming executive director from 1945 to 1971, upon her retirement in 1971. Dedicated to AMPAS' mission of broadening the film industry's educational and cultural outreach, Herrick was responsible for establishing the library as a world-class research institution.[5]

In its inception, the Academy library had offices in the Roosevelt Hotel.[4] The library moved to its current building, a former waterworks, in Beverly Hills in 1991.[6][7]

See also

References
  1. Lewis, Hilary (February 18, 2015). "Oscars: Who Came Up With the Name "Oscar" and More About the Statuette's History (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  2. Osborne, Robert (February 17, 2015). "The Origin of Oscar" (video). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  3. "Spotlight: The Margaret Herrick Library in Los Angeles". LibGig. 2008. Archived from the original on October 11, 2008. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  4. "Margaret Herrick, Film History Trailblazer". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. September 22, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  5. "Margaret Herrick, The Academy's First Librarian". I Love Libraries. American Library Association. February 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
  6. Larry Sean Kinder: The Margaret Herrick Library: Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. In: tandfonline.com, published online: 15 Nov 2010.
  7. Beverly Hills Waterworks Building / Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study. In: laconservancy.org, date 14 July 2020.

Further reading
  • Sands, Pierre Norman (1973). A Historical Study of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1927–1947). New York: Arno Press. ISBN 978-0-405-04100-6. OCLC 340397. (Originally presented as the author's Ph.D. thesis, University of Southern California, Arno Press Cinema Program, 1966.)
  • Slide, Anthony (2014). The New Historical Dictionary of the American Film Industry. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. pp. 1–2. ISBN 978-1-135-92554-3. OCLC 871224495.
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