On view in August 2024.
To celebrate Walt's South America Goodwill trip taken in 1941, we have Walt and Lillian's passports on display for a limited time in our Awards Lobby. The passports include country stamps and Uruguayan money from their trip.
Nancy Wolf, former Director of Facilities & Operations at The Walt Disney Family Museum, passed away on December 29, 2023, in St. Petersburg, Florida, surrounded by her family and friends.
On view in July 2024.
This invitation to the Disney’s’ “Tempus Fugit Celebration” is addressed to Diane and Ron Miller—their eldest daughter and son-in-law—and features a hand drawn map in colored pencil showing their guests how to navigate the newly-built park.
On view in June 2024.
Illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894–1978) and Walt Disney maintained a friendship and correspondence for many years. This 1935 edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which features eight oil painting illustrations by Rockwell, is inscribed: “To Walt Disney, with sincere respect for his great art, Norman Rockwell.”
This year celebrates the 60th anniversary of the 1964/1965 New York World’s Fair, a historic turning point in the career of Walt Disney, the trajectory of The Walt Disney Company, and the spirit of global cooperation. Although “it’s a small world” is one of the most timeless and enduring of all Disney’s creations for the Fair, it was actually the last of the four iconic pavilions created by WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering).
The Walt Disney Family Museum is saddened to learn of the passing of Disney Legend Richard Sherman. Much like the lyrics to his many iconic songs, Richard Sherman’s legacy will never be forgotten.
Walt collected, crafted, and curated a breadth of miniatures, including ceramics, glassware, silver cutlery, paper books and magazines, wooden furniture, musical instruments, dolls, faux fruits, candelabras, checkers and playing cards, and working firearms. This vase—which stands at just one-and-a-quarter inches tall—is finely crafted of porcelain, enamel, and gilding. Some of the hand-painted brushstrokes are the width of a human hair. This is part of a set of miniature porcelain vessels by the same artist, each with a different shape and design.
These early concept drawings show Walt’s thinking as he developed ideas for this utopian planned community. Three were composed on yellow legal pad paper, perhaps during discussions about the EPCOT development. The other was drawn on both sides of a paper napkin. They were found—crumpled in the trash—by Walt’s gardener, who stored them in a safe deposit box for many years. The museum acquired the drawings in 2011 from the gardener’s son.
An oft-repeated story from the 1950s involved Walt Disney and Disneyland executive Dick Nunis. One day at the park, the pair stood along the Rivers of America with a view of the water traffic. The large steamer Mark Twain paddled its way around the bend as smaller craft zig-zagged about including canoes, keel boats, and the rafts to Tom Sawyer Island. Nunis expected Walt to make a comment about how busy the river was, perhaps even a little too busy.
On view in March 2024.
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. These objects, which include recent acquisitions and fragile materials that have never been publicly displayed, and will rotate periodically throughout the year.