Fairbanks Center 25th Anniversary Celebration Tours

As part of the 25^th Anniversary celebration of the Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study, the Academy presented guided tours of the historic building and library collections.

Since the late 1920s the Academy has maintained a reference library dedicated to documenting the history and development of cinema as an art form and as an industry. To accommodate its ever-expanding collections, the Academy repurposed the abandoned City of Beverly Hills Water Treatment Plant No. 1 – a 40,000 square-foot building at the corner of La Cienega and Olympic boulevards – into the collection’s permanent home. The Academy is pleased to offer the public a behind-the-scenes look at this world-renowned motion picture research facility.

With tours  were led by library staff, visitors explored the photograph, manuscript and graphic arts collections, as well as the paper conservation lab. These areas reveal the inner workings of the library and the staff's efforts to process, catalog and preserve material that is then made accessible to researchers. The public also had the opportunity to enjoy the lobby photo exhibition celebrating the centennial of former Academy President Gregory Peck.

Learn even more about the history of the Fairbanks Center below: