In 1969, a librarian at UCLA had just finished doing a bibliography of Disney. UCLA had contacted Disney, suggesting that Disney deposit Walt Disney’s papers at the library, and a meeting soon followed. The librarian sat in that meeting, in which it became obvious that what Disney was thinking of was not just the history of Walt, but preserving the whole history of the company—not something the university library could accommodate. It was suggested that Disney consider setting up its own Archives, and to the librarian sitting in the back of the room that sounded like an interesting idea. He went home and wrote the Disney people a letter suggesting his services. His name was Dave Smith, and he went on to become an integral part of the Walt Disney Archives as Chief Archivist then was named a Disney Legend in 2007. With today’s technology, Dave was able to reach out to fans in a more public manner, such as with his ongoing column, “Ask Dave,” right here on the D23 website. Dave told us about his first days at the company, “They gave me an office up in Walt’s office suite in the Animation building. I had an empty room and an empty file cabinet and they said, ‘Start.'” Dave passed away on February 15, 2019 after dedicating over 4 decades to The Walt Disney Company.
