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Finding Aid for the Wah Chang papers, ca. 1928-2000, bulk, ca. 1950-2000
202
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Title: Wah Chang papers,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1928-2000
Date (bulk): (bulk, ca. 1950-2000)
Collection number: 202
Creator: Chang, Wah
Extent: 2 boxes (1 linear ft.) 6 flat boxes
Abstract: Collection consists of biographical scrapbooks and exhibit panels documenting the career of special effects and film pioneer,
artist Wah Chang.
Language: Finding aid is written in English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library.
Performing Arts Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Performing
Arts Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library, Performing
Arts Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library,
Performing Arts Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of
the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC
Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift, 2001.
[Identification of item], Wah Chang papers (Collection 202). Performing Arts Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, UCLA.
Wah Ming Chang was born 1917 in Honolulu and moved to San Francisco in the early 1920s. There he began exhibiting his creative
work at the age of six. After the death of his mother in 1928, he came to live with Blanding Sloan and Mildred Taylor. In
1938, Chang began his career in film and special effects by building murals, sets, and animated puppets shown at the World's
Fair in San Francisco. He joined Disney Studios' Effects and Model Department in 1939 and worked on projects such
Pinocchio,
Fantasia, and
Bambi. In 1941, he worked for George Pal Puppetoon Studio as head of the puppet department working on Army and Navy training films.
Chang formed East-West Studios with Blanding Sloan in 1945 and produced
The Way of Peace, an animated puppet film commissioned by the American Lutheran Church. He later formed Centaur Productions, working on television
commercials and toy designs. Throughout the 1950s he freelanced and worked on motion picture projects such as the
King and I,
Can Can,
Tom Thumb,
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, and
The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao , for which he received an Oscar nomination. Over the next several years he worked on major motion pictures, commercials for
such companies as Dole Pineapple, Kellogg, and Kraft, and various television series such as
The Outer Limits and
Star Trek. Chang left Hollywood in the 1970s to pursue his interests in wildlife and sculpture.
Collection consists of biographical scrapbooks and exhibit panels documenting the career of special effects and film pioneer,
artist Wah Chang. Includes original and reproduced photographs, clippings and ephemera.
Arranged in the following series:
- Books About Chang
- Clippings
- Photographs
- Scrapbooks
- Exhibit Panels
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Chang, Wah -- Archives.
Cinematography -- Special effects -- Archival resources.
Photographs.