D23 Presents TREASURES of the Walt Disney Archives: The Reagan Library

 From Walt Disney's original Disneyland  nametag to the fiery orange wig Johnny Depp wore in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," a recently opened exhibit at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum is delighting Disney Guests with the largest collection of Walt Disney treasures ever assembled.

 The Walt Disney Archives Cast Members assembled a stunning collection of more than 500 archival treasures- many of which had never been publicly displayed before- for D23 Presents Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives. The exhibit, brought to the Reagan Library by D23, the official Disney Fan Club, is on view at the Reagan Library, located in Simi Valley, through April 2013.

 Walt Disney Archives Director Becky Cline, who curated the exhibit along with Archives Cast Members, says that when Chief Archivist Emeritus Dave Smith started the Disney Archives in 1970, "he could talk to Roy O. Disney and [famed animator] Ub Iwerks and asked what it was like to work with Walt Disney in the 1920s and to create Mickey Mouse. Those guys are all gone now. We don't have the `Nine Old Men` anymore, we don't have the founders of the Walt Disney Company and  there are very few people around anymore who knew them personally. So it's very important now that that legacy and memories are in the Archives because we can protect it and build upon it."

 Bronze busts of Walt Disney and President Reagan, flanked by American flags, welcome guests to the library, along with a plaque describing the men as longtime friends and "eternal optimists who shared a belief in the essential goodness of the American way of life." But their connection goes deeper than that. On July 17,1955, Reagan, then a Hollywood actor, helped host live Disneyland opening-day coverage and, in 1968, endorsed the first Walt Disney postage stamp. In 1984, Reagan's second inaugural festivities were moved to Epcot due to inclement weather in Washington, D.C., and two years later, Reagan declared Dec.5 National Walt Disney Day. The 40th president of the United States even returned to Disneyland in 1990 to celebrate its 35th anniversary.

Just  more Disney history...Dr Lee