Disney Archives Founder Smith Receives Honorary Disneyland Window
To so many, Disney Legend Dave Smith’s archival work captured the legacy of the Walt Disney Company to perfection. His incredible legacy now remains captured in time on Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. Today in a small private ceremony, Walt Disney Company Archives Founder Smith received a posthumous window honoring his work
Perched above the clock hanging on the corner of the Fortuosity Shop, the vintage window’s placement fits the historian’s curiousity-filled historical legacy with the company well. According to D23, Smith joined the company in June 1970. Prior to that though, Smith spent much of his time chronicling the work of Walt Disney himself, inspiring his brother Roy Disney to hire Smith eventually as the founder of the archives.
“Smith was responsible for growing the Archives from a simple one-person department to a model among corporate archives, becoming the final authority on all matters of Disney history in the process,” D23 stated in an article in 2020. That year, then-Walt Disney Chairman Bob Iger announced Smith would receive the window dedicated in his honor that was unveiled this morning.
Prior to his time in Anaheim, Smith interned with the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., which prepared him for his extensive research work with the Walt Disney Company. After receiving the Disney Legend Award in 2007, Smith retired from the company in 2010 and passed away in 2019. At the time, he still held the title of Chief Archivisit Emeritus.
This morning, Disney Legend and @TWDCArchives Founder Dave Smith’s window was dedicated on Main Street, U.S.A. If you’re visiting @Disneyland, make sure to stop by the Fortuosity Shop to see it! Check out our Instagram Stories for more from the ceremony: https://t.co/Y3fq2EbFk2 pic.twitter.com/o9jz8jUEcB
— Disney D23 (@DisneyD23) January 24, 2022
The Archivist Remembered
“The next time you visit Main Street, U.S.A., at Disneyland Park, look up above the Fortuosity Shop and you may spy a familiar name on a new window. The life of Dave Smith, founder of the @WaltDisneyArchives was celebrated in a private ceremony today where his honorary window was revealed to mark his legacy,” the Disneyland Ambassadors said today in an Instagram post.
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Just as Smith worked tirelessly to capture the legacy of the Walt Disney Company, his window now celebrates his role as the town archivist on Main Street, U.S.A., where will forever be remembered for “preserving, protecting, and presenting our fond memories of the past.”