When Walt Disney passed away on December 15th, 1966, there was a great deal of concern at the Walt Disney Company. While the main concern was whether or not they would be able to remain in business without their founder, but employees were also concerned about what to do to preserve Walt Disney’s papers, awards and memorabilia. Fortunately, they were able to find a man who not only preserved them, but even started the Walt Disney Archives, which gathers and preserves historical things pertaining the Walt Disney Company as well as Walt Disney himself. His name was Dave Smith.
A native of Pasadena, California, Smith received a B.A. in History from the University of California in Berkeley. After working part-time in the Manuscript Department of the Huntington Library, where he worked for six years, he received a Masters Degree in Library Science from the University of California and was handpicked to be an intern at a program offered at the Library of Congress.
After returning to California, he worked as a Reference Librarian at the UCLA Research Library. It was not long after that he heard the Walt Disney Company was looking for someone to put together a bibliography on Walt Disney. Smith answered the call and spent over a year doing research on Disney productions and and publications. This led to Smith writing columns that regularly appeared in The Disney Channel Magazine, Disney Magazine, and the Disney Newsreel. He also wrote for publications known as Starlog, Manuscripts, American Archivist, and California Historical Quarterly. Smith officially became a Walt Disney Company Cast Member in 1970, when he officially started the Walt Disney Archives.
Besides his magazine columns, Smith also wrote the Disney encyclopedia, Disney A to Z. He co-wrote four volumes of The Ultimate Disney Trivia Book with Kevin Neary, and with Steven Clark he co-wrote Disney: The First 100 Years and he also edited The Quotable Walt Disney. He authored the introductions to several other Disney-themed books as well. While working for Disney Smith said “The thing I like best is the tremendous variety in our work. We never know when we come to work in the morning what we’ll be doing that day. It keeps the job interesting when you’re not doing the same thing day in and day out.”
Dave Smith passed away at the age of 78 on February 15th, 2019. On January 24th, 2022, he was a given a window with his name engraved on it above the Fortuosity Shop on Main Street, U.S.A, at Disneyland Park. The celebration that revealed the window featured Smith’s close family and friends, along with current Disney cast members, as well as the cast of Pinocchio (1940), which was one of Smith’s favorite Disney movies. Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock, who spoke at the celebration said “Like our friend Jiminy (Cricket) Dave’s work has helped to guide and shape us into who we are today—and it is evident in our cast, our resort and our amazing company. There is no greater wish come true than to realize that your contributions have served so many, so well. And as time moves on, Dave’s work will be more important than ever because it provides us with a lasting connection to the past.”
Even though he didn’t know Walt Disney personally, it is remarkable what Dave Smith did, but also special in terms of the variety of what he wrote, and his in-depth preservation of Walt Disney’s legacy. He lived his life to the fullest and considered every day an adventure as he researched and wrote. That should be an inspiration to everyone!
