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Massoth (Robert and Bertha) Collection of Disneyland publications and ephemera
MS.R.147
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries
Title: Robert and Bertha Massoth collection of Disneyland publications and ephemera
Creator:
Massoth, Robert J.
Creator:
Massoth, Bertha E.
Identifier/Call Number: MS.R.147
Physical Description:
4.7 Linear Feet
(4 letter-size document boxes, 1 half-width letter-size document box, 2 records cartons, 1 flat box, and 5 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): approximately 1960-2008
Abstract: This collection includes Disneyland-related newsletters, magazines, and other publications collected by Robert J. Massoth
and by his wife, Bertha E. Massoth. Bertha worked as the executive secretary to the head of publicity and marketing at Disneyland,
a theme park in Anaheim, Orange County, California, owned by Walt Disney Co.
Language of Material:
English
.
The collection is open for research.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permission to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Robert and Bertha Massoth collection of Disneyland publications. MS-R147. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine
Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this
collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.
Gift of Thomas and Michele Massoth, 2009, 2013, and 2022.
Processed by Michelle Light and Dawn Schmitz, 2009.
Robert J. Massoth (1918-2008) and his wife, Bertha E. Massoth (1918-1987), lived in Fullerton, Orange County, California.
Bertha worked at the Disneyland theme park from approximately 1958 to 1984, serving as the executive secretary to the head
of publicity and marketing.
Disneyland, located 27 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles in Anaheim, Orange County, California, opened in 1955. Walt
Disney, the creator of animated motion pictures featuring the characters Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Pluto, had first conceived
of the park twenty years earlier. But it wasn't until the post-war boom in consumer culture, automobile travel, tourism, and
the growth of the television industry that he was able to realize the project.
Disney used his new weekly television program on the ABC television network to generate revenue and to report on the park's
development, introducing the new concept of a theme park as distinct from the amusement parks that had been in existence in
the U.S. since the late nineteenth century. Designed, like a Disney motion picture, to invite the visitor into an imaginary
world, Disneyland was organized into five thematically linked areas: Main Street, U.S.A.; Adventureland; Frontierland; Fantasyland;
and Tomorrowland.
In the years since Disneyland's inception, its "imagineers" (engineers, architects, artists, storytellers, and designers)
have added more "lands," entertainment, rides and attractions to the park. Disneyland's public service employees are called
"cast members" in company literature because they are considered an integral part of creating the park's special atmosphere.
Attendance at Disneyland in 2008 was 14,721,000. Disneyland is now just one part of a large tourist and entertainment complex
in Anaheim, where Walt Disney Co. owns 461 acres of land and has the rights under long-term lease for use of an additional
49 acres. In addition to its vast holdings in studio entertainment and media networks, the company also owns Walt Disney World
resort in Orlando, Florida, and licenses or owns interests in a number of other parks and resorts in the U.S. as well as in
Hong Kong, Tokyo and Paris. Taken together, Walt Disney Attractions has the highest attendance of any theme park chain in
the world, with 118,000,000 visitors in 2008.
Collection Scope and Content Summary
This collection includes Disneyland-related newsletters, magazines, and other publications collected by Robert J. Massoth
and by his wife, Bertha E. Massoth. Bertha worked as the executive secretary to the head of publicity and marketing at Disneyland,
a theme park in Anaheim, Orange County, California, owned by Walt Disney Co.
The collection includes newsletters and other publications for Disneyland park employees and former employees, including Backstage
Disneyland, Inside Disneyland; and The Disneylander. Also included is Walt Disney Co. literature such as annual reports, the
employee newsletter Disney Newsreel, and gift catalogs of Disney trademarked merchandise. There are also tourist guides, posters,
and other publications for visitors to Disneyland and Walt Disney World resort. A minimally processed accrual was added to
the collection in 2023.
This collection is arranged in alphabetical order by title or type of publication.
The following publications were removed from this collection and cataloged separately in Special Collections and Archives.
(Catalog records can be accessed through UCI's online catalog Antpac http://antpac.lib.uci.edu/.)
These items were removed from the collection and cataloged separately in the library catalog
ANTPAC .
- Disneyland Line
- Disneyland Resort Line
- Disney News: Official Magazine for Magic Kingdom Club Families
Related materials can be found in the following collection in the Department of Special Collections and Archives:
Related materials can be found in the following collection:
- Disneyland Employee and Promotional Materials Collection. MS.R.077
- Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Themed Entertainment Association/Economics Research Associates.
Attraction Attendance Report 2008. Burbank, Calif.: Themed Entertainment Association, 2009.
Telotte, J.P.
The Mouse Machine : Disney and Technology. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2008.
Walt Disney Productions.
Disneyland : The First Quarter Century. Burbank, Calif.: Walt Disney Productions, 1979.
"Walt Disney Co." In Mint Global [database online]. Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing. [Cited 7 July 2009.]
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Amusement parks -- California -- Anaheim -- History -- 20th century -- Sources.
Walt Disney Productions
Walt Disney Company
Disneyland (Calif.) -- Archives
Disneyland (Calif.)