Over the past few weeks, while resuming my research about Disney's international expansion in the 1930s and 1940s, I was reminded of how fun it is to dig up new documents that have been sitting for years in untapped physical archives or in the collections of the families of the persons who worked for Disney.

At times, I am able to visit those archives and collections in person. But more often than not, I need to rely on a huge network of volunteers all around the world.

For this current project, my wife and I counted yesterday more than 15 volunteers based in France, the UK, Serbia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Knoxville and New York (and I am certain I am forgetting a few locations).

One of the subject matters that I a researching right now is the Swedish Children Day, which saw Disney's official participation in 1937. In this context, I just dug up these two documents online. One (non-authorized) from 1934 (Three Little Pigs and Mickey Mouse) and one from 1937.

In the Swedish National Archives there is a lot more and I am hoping to get access to that material in a few weeks thanks to a local volunteer.

 

 An excellent book coming up early next year.

CHALLENGE FOR RUSSIAN SPEAKER / RESEARCHER

In 1936 a version of the Blue Ribbon book "Three Little Pigs" was released in Russia.

What makes this version very special is the fact that the story was translated and adapted by the famous Russian poet Sergei Mikhalkov (based on the French version of the book, by the way).

Here is the challenge for a Russian speaker / researcher who also enjoys Disney history...

Mikhalkov wrote a memoir about his life, "От и до..." ("From Start to Finish...") It would be great to locate a library that carries a physical copy of it (using worldcat.org for example) and to find out if it contains any relevant information about Mikhalkov work on the book.

Any volunteer??

VOLUNTEER NEEDED IN FRANCE IN OR NEAR CAEN

The historical discoveries keep pouring in!! I just located some rare documents linked to the early days of the immediate post-World War II Journal de Mickey (the French Mickey Mouse Magazine). 

Unfortunately the library in Caen (France) where those important documents are stored does not offer remote reproduction / remote access.

Would one of you be located nearby and willing to help? If so, could you please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com ?

VOLUNTEER NEEDED IN STOCKHOLM

As I keep on researching the early days of Disney around the world in the 1930s and 1940s, I need some local help in Stockholm, Sweden.

Would one of you be willing to help me conduct in-person research in two local archives over the next few days or weeks?

If so, could you please email ne at Didier.ghez@gmail.com? 

It is with immense sadness that I wake up this morning to the news of the passing of Don Iwerks, an exceptional human being and an outstanding Imagineer and historian.

I had the chance of meeting Don a few times and I greatly cherish those memories. 

My thoughts go to his family and especially to his daughter, Leslie.

Fifteen years ago I began to work on a book about Disney's expansion outside of the US in the 1930s and 1940s. This was really the subtext of Disney's Grand Tour. It was also almost virgin territory at the time.

Having faced some serious setbacks in many other directions at the beginning of the year, I decided to re-focus on this project over the past few months.

While I still have no idea of when the book will be written and published, I am glad to share that the research is progressing by leaps and bounds.

This is especially thanks to two wonderful volunteers in New York.

I finally know exactly when Kay Kamen met Walt Disney for the very first time, who put him in touch again with Walt later on and how the July 1, 1932 agreement between Kamen-Blair and Disney was negotiated. I also now know who the second person from the left on this photo is (it is not the publicist Harry Hammond Beall as we believed), and when Kamen travelled around Europe for the first time with his nephew George (and what they did and what they saw).

It took me 20 years to find those answers, but over the past two weeks of intense research they have started pouring in, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

When it is ready, that book will be really, really fun and full of delightful surprises!

VOLUNTEER(S) NEEDED IN NEW YORK CITY

I just discovered a massive cache of untapped information about Disney's international expansion in the 1930s in four fascinating trade magazines (One from the UK, one from Australia, on from the US and one from the Netherlands).

All these magazines are preserved at the New York Public Library and I need some volunteers to go on site to shoot pictures of all the relevant pages.

If you are willing to help (this will probably require a few days of research at the NYPL), could you please email me at didier.ghez@gmail.com?

You will help uncover some really, really important new material.