To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of The Walt Disney Company, The Walt Disney Family Museum is showcasing objects from the museum’s collection which highlight important moments in Walt’s career in our Awards Lobby, free to the public. These objects, which include recent acquisitions and fragile materials that have never been publicly displayed, will rotate periodically throughout the year.
Objects
March 2024
Academy Award® for Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1969)
On view in March 2024.
This Academy Award® was awarded posthumously to Walt Disney in 1969 for Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968). A sequel to Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), this featurette was one of the final animated films produced by Walt prior to his death in 1966.
January–February 2024
Jimmie Dodd's Mousegetar
On view in January–February 2024.
Actor, songwriter, and Disney Legend Jimmie Dodd was the host of the Mickey Mouse Club television show during its first four seasons, appearing with the show’s ensemble cast from 1955 to 1959. Dodd wrote more than 400 songs, including the “Mickey Mouse March,” the show’s popular theme song, and numerous other compositions for the program.
December 2023
Margaret Kerry’s Tinker Bell Ballet Slippers
Actress and dancer Margaret Kerry (b. 1929) wore this pair of ballet slippers while serving as the live-action reference model for the character of Tinker Bell in Peter Pan (1953). Since the making of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Disney Studios artists would used live-action references to help capture lifelike motion. Filming human actors—often with costumes and props—allowed animators to study and reproduce the movement of actors’ bodies and clothing in animated form.
November 2023
Mrs. Davis Letter on Display for The Walt Disney Company's 100th Anniversary
On October 16, 1923—the same day he signed the distribution contract with Winkler Productions—Walt penned this letter to the mother of Virginia Davis, the child actress who portrayed the titular character in Alice's Wonderland. In negotiating the agreement, Margaret Winkler had specified that the same actress should portray Alice in subsequent installments in the Alice Comedies series. As a result, Walt implored Davis’ mother to allow her daughter to star in the series, praising Virgina’s talent and vouching for Winkler’s ability to promote the short films. “