Plans have now been announced for a Walt Disney Family Museum, in San Francisco. This museum will give new life to a historic building, as well as honor the achievements and life of Walt Disney – the man behind the mouse. The idea has been an enriching online presence for many years, found at http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/index.html, but a physical location will let people visit and see the treasures first hand. Walt’s daughter Diane has answered some questions about the museum.
Diane said that the idea started about ten years ago, and she was disturbed about some things being written about Walt, which weren’t only untrue, but also cruel, and downright nasty. Some good family friends suggested that they do a CD-ROM biography of Walt. She had recently seen the television film about Lucy and Desi that featured some home movies, and was done by their children, but Diane was not thrilled with the idea of presenting their treasured home movies to the public in that fashion. She had several reasons for this, one being that Walt wasn’t in many of the movies, as he was often the person behind the camera, as most proud dads are. Diane did find one idea very appealing though, and that was the idea of presenting her father in a permanent accessible way, and in a way that people could bring into their homes, just like Walt had come into their homes in his television appearances. They decided to assemble a filmed portrait and use the technology of CD-ROM. Walt had always been very accessible to the press and public, so assembling the material was not difficult. Diane said that Walt knew the value of exposure, and he really liked people, and talking about his life and work. The product did not have much success, but it inspired the virtual museum website. After her mother’s death, Diane had several of Walt’s possessions that had been important to him, and a large number of Academy Awards, like the very unique award for Snow White. There were awards and citations from all over the world, and things that Walt had collected. They decided to lease a warehouse in San Francisco, and store it in an attractive manner, and they could make it available to interested people. Visitors to the online museum often asked where the museum was, and now there was a place. Recently, they decided to make the museum more publicly available, by reservation six days a week, but they will also accommodate walk in visitors as well. They would like to have at least one field trip each day, and would like to develop great programs for local schools, and there will also be a theater, a small café, and a book store. Diane has said that the project has “far exceeded” her original goals for it, and they really feel that this museum is so in his spirit, both by restoring a historical building in a national park, as well as being shared and enjoyed. Their goal and challenge, Diane stated, is that they “must do it as well as he would have done it.”