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The year was 1905. Theodore Roosevelt was president, a quart of fresh milk cost about 7 cents, and Eric Cleon Larson was born on September 3 in Cleveland, Utah. While Disney fans know Larson as one of Walt’s famous “Nine Old Men” of animation, his path to get there was hardly a straight line. In fact, during an interview not long before his retirement, he was asked how he ended up with Disney. His reply: “This is the last place I expected to be.”

Spend a full day at the Museum with Disney animator/director John Musker--responsible for such films as Aladdin, Hercules, The Little Mermaid and The Princess and the Frog--as he takes us behind the scenes of hand-drawn animation with a youth workshop, a master class and a screening of The Great Mouse Detective! Tickets and more information can be found at www.waltdisney.org or www.SFFS.org.

On Saturday, January 28th 2012 at The Walt Disney Family Museum, the San Francisco chapter of the CalArts Alumni Association—in conjunction with The Walt Disney Family Museum—is presenting a special day of FREE film screenings, educational animation activities, a daytime performance event, and an evening concert.

The Irving G. Thalberg Award is presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to those “whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production.” The honor is only presented periodically, and has only been awarded 38 times since the first was given to Darryl Zanuck in 1937.

August at The Walt Disney Family Museum features Walt Disney’s classic Fantasia (1940), a musical masterpiece that features the talent of renowned conductor Leopold Stokowski, and led to the development of stereophonic surround sound. Today, we are thrilled to have the San Francisco Zoo give us a closer look at the graceful, real-life animals featured in "Dance of the Hours"!

As the world’s best athletes prepared their minds and bodies to compete for gold in London two weeks ago, a group of Bay Area museum staffers were preparing for a different kind of challenge: how to leverage the Olympic torch’s fiery brightness to shine a little light on art and culture. Thus began the story of the #MuseumOlympics.

You don’t become a hero by being normal. You also don’t become an animated classic by following the norm.

This past month, the museum commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Our Spotlight Talks—short discussions in our galleries—in July focused on one of Disney exhibits for New York: the Illinois Pavilion... also known as 'Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln', it featured a lifelike figure of America’s sixteenth president!

In recognition of The Walt Disney Family Museum's anniversary, we'd like to look back and share stories of the time, work, and energy that went into buildingthe museum.

After two and a half years of planning, preparing and packing, the 16,367-artifact collection of the Walt Disney Family Foundation, made its move into its permanent home on December 10, 2008. The road there had been paved with miles and miles of bubble wrap and large pallet boxes that could create a mansion like fort.

As The Walt Disney Family Museum's major exhibition All Aboard: A Celebration of Walt's Train has been extended until March 15—and in recognition of Ward Kimball's centennial year—we're spending Wednesdays with Ward until his next birthday on March 4!

In celebration of this television marathon, we're thrilled to share with you highlights and a recap of the screenings and events that happened during the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival.

On Saturday December 3, join San Francisco’s favorite movie reviewer, film historian—and woman of many hats—KRON TV's Jan Wahl, for a fantastic presentation on fabulous females in film. From Mae West to Meryl Streep, Jan will discuss—through numerous classic film clips, a multimedia-packed presentation, and a lively Q&A session—women’s roles in Hollywood history. Get the scoop on and watch clips from The Women, Soapdish, The Thin Man, Adam's Rib, Meet Me in St. Louis, Calamity Jane, Some Like it Hot, and 9 to 5…with a special chat about Lady and the Tramp's Peggy Lee!

Welcome to STORYBOARD, the official blog of The Walt Disney Family Museum. A museum is a lively, energetic thing--gathering information and artifacts, growing, reaching out, and sharing with the community the things it acquires and discovers. STORYBOARD will enable us to communicate with you directly, announce upcoming plans and programs, introduce you to our staff, highlight ongoing acquisitions and share the stories behind many of the Museum’s great treasures.

On Friday evening, in front of a sold-out audience in the Museum’s theater, Executive Director Richard Benefield welcomed everyone to the program. He singled out retired Imagineer and Disney Legend Marty Sklar as the guiding force behind the weekend celebration ahead.

It truly was a Museum full of characters. This past Wednesday night, the Yelp Elite gathered at The Walt Disney Family Museum, in the Presidio of San Francisco, for an animated evening of fun, food, and a little bit of dress-up!