Walt Disney?

I just recently watched a documentary about the making of Beauty & The Beast and it's earliest variation that Walt wanted to work on and they had mentioned upon one of his trips to Europe he brought back some 330 books, including The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales by Arthur Quiller-Couch

I thought it would be neat if it were possible to see what books Walt collected?

It would be a wonderful addition to Legacy Libraries if we could get information about his library. I've never seen any sort of documentation on his library though.

>1 toast_and_tea: Looks like those books brought back from Europe went into the Disney Studios research library for the writers/animators to check out. Walt did also have a small personal library at home (~100 books), and a somewhat larger one in his private office at work (~600 books). https://www.mouseplanet.com/12803/Books_That_Influenced_Disney mentions a few of the books he owned, and the key fact that "Disney Archivist Dave Smith personally catalogued all the real books that were on the shelves of Walt's formal office at the Disney Studio on the day Walt died. The list is 24-pages long, single-spaced, and contains more than 600 books."

That's the list someone on LT would need to get ahold of. Dave Smith himself has passed away, but surely the list is still held by his successors. It appears they can be reached at https://d23.com/questions/ ("Ask the Walt Disney Archives - Please complete and submit the entire form below to ask any question about Disney you may have, and experts from the Walt Disney Archives will answer.") Some past answers posted publicly also mention a direct email address, Disney.Archives@disney.com

Other links/articles of interest:

a book personally owned/read by Walt Disney early in his career:
https://themousemuseum.com/2017/04/11/animated-cartoons-first-edition/
https://eglutz.com/impact/
https://www.printmag.com/post/how-walt-disney-used-his-kansas-city-library-card

the original Disney Studio Library, which was dismantled and sold off in the 1980s:
http://mrfun.squarespace.com/blog/2012/1/13/studio-library.html
https://yourfirstvisit.net/2020/11/13/a-friday-visit-with-jim-korkis-the-story-b...
https://www.mouseplanet.com/8412/Forgotten_Disney_Heroines_The_Disney_Secretarie...

a few of the former contents of the Disney Studio Library:
https://themousemuseum.com/2017/05/28/walt-disney-studio-library-magazine-natura...
https://themousemuseum.com/2017/03/04/walt-disney-studio-library-magazine-the-st...
https://themousemuseum.com/2017/06/25/walt-disney-studio-library-magazine-the-st...
https://themousemuseum.com/2017/06/25/walt-disney-studio-library-magazine-the-st...
https://themousemuseum.com/2017/06/02/walt-disney-studio-library-magazine-the-st...
http://estatesalechronicles.blogspot.com/2013/05/from-library-of-walt-disney-stu...
https://comics.ha.com/itm/animation-art/limited-edition-cel/walt-disney-library-...
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/walt-disney-studio-ex-library-book-516853...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/WALT-DISNEY-STUDIO-LIBRARY-BOOK-PENNY-BY-MARJORIE-TORRE...
https://picclick.com/Walt-Disney-Studio-Library-Research-Magazine-John-Hench-203... , https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disney-Studio-Library-Research-Magazine-John-Hench...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disney-Studio-Library-1964-Signed-Card-ZooNooz-Mag...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disney-Studio-Library-1960-20th-Century-Fox-Margar...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disney-Studio-Library-w-CHECK-OUT-1955-Natural-His...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disney-Studio-Library-1958-Natural-History-Joseph-...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disney-Studio-Library-1958-Natural-History-Joseph-...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disney-Studio-Library-1956-WED-Collin-Campbell-Clu...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disney-Studio-Library-1959-Natural-History-Dick-Hu...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Arthur-C-Clarke-1955-Walt-Disney-Studio-Library-Magazin...

the Walt Disney Archives:
https://d23.com/dave-smith-memories/
http://disunplugged.com/2010/06/09/into-the-walt-disney-archives-with-disney-leg...
https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201005/1906/
https://twitter.com/TWDCArchives
https://www.facebook.com/TWDCArchives/

the Disney Animation Research Library, a separate institution for saving things from the actual movie productions (artwork, models, etc):
https://www.thepositivemom.com/disney-animation-research-library
https://www.momendeavors.com/a-rare-look-inside-disneys-animation-research-libra...
https://momstart.com/top-secret-photos-from-inside-disney-animation-research-lib...
https://lolalambchops.com/disney-animation-research-library-tour/
https://craftychica.com/2018/05/disney-animation-research-library/

Touchstone: Walt Disney

>3 Opteryx: Oh goodness! thank you for the incredible response. I am having much fun with all the research. I do hope you did as well.

I may just email that person. I would be ecstatic to help contribute somehow or even help catalog the list, if we can get it. Though Legacy Libraries, do members work on those?

>5 toast_and_tea: Yes, members do all the cataloging once someone gets a list to work from. (I still have too much of my own cataloging to do any myself, but I think it's a neat project.) The homepage of this Legacy Libraries discussion group lists the LT contact person who can help get a legacy account set up once you have the list. Please feel free to contact the Disney archives people, and I will look forward to the results. :)

It may be good to check in with the archives and collections folks at the Disney Family Museum as well. They have a good deal of personal property of Walt Disney: https://www.waltdisney.org/

By all means, see if you can get a list - would be a fun collection to add, for sure, if there's enough info out there!