If you take the elevator down to the basement, let in by an archivist with the pass code, you find yourself in a place where the walls move.
With the press of a button, 250 aisles of shelving slide along tracks on the ground. Laser sensors detect object between the stacks -- boxes, people -- so as not to crush anything when the aisles close.
More than 75,400 cubic feet of history are kept here, plus 60,000 rare books.
The air is dry and cool, the lighting dimmed low.
These are the archives.
Among the manuscripts and memorabilia are the Oscar statuette won by actress Barbara Stanwyck in 1982 and the original scores of composer Carl W. Stalling, who created the "Looney Tunes" theme song.
In row 21: actress Whoopi Goldberg's things.
Row 20: sheet music, scripts and correspondence of comedian Jack Benny.
Then there is row 1: the personal papers of comic creator Stan Lee.
Along with artist Jack Kirby, Lee co-created Spider-Man. And Hulk.
Iron Man, X-Men, Thor and the Fantastic Four are his.
Lee challenged the image of the prototypical superhero by giving his characters humanistic flaws. He created the serialized comic, stories continuing from one issue to the next. His characters once again appear in theaters Friday with the U.S. debut of the Marvel film "The Avengers."
And it is the University of Wyoming's American Heritage Center in Laramie that houses his archives: 118 boxes of working drafts, photos, video, articles and fan mail.
"Stan was a major game changer," said manager of collections William Hopkins, a comic book collector himself. "He essentially changed the entire genre."
How did Lee's things end up in Wyoming? First, a bit of history:
Read more: http://trib.com/weekender/searching-for-stan-lee-in-the-vault/article_bcaa44bf-452a-5ae8-a48e-2da64cea4b19.html#ixzz1uJPOgMXW
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2 comments:
Just curious...was this article inspired by "Pieces of the Hindenburg: Treasure Hunting in Wyoming?"
Hey London. For the blog, it was just a happy coincidence. As far as the original article? You'd have to ask the author. If I had to take a guess though, I'd say it was the premiere of the "The Avengers" that prompted it.
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