In 1979, Pickford made an important contribution to film history when she placed her photographs and other memorabilia at the Academy to establish the Mary Pickford Collection. Her widower Buddy Rogers and the Mary Pickford Foundation expanded the Collection to include correspondence, personal and professional papers, financial records and scrapbooks. Housed at the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, the invaluable Mary Pickford Collection makes the Academy an important destination for students and scholars who wish to study and document the life and work of Mary Pickford.
In the summer of 2012, the Mary Pickford Foundation and the Academy joined together to create a multi-year initiative to promote the legacy of Mary Pickford and the silent film era. This partnership includes co-sponsoring an annual Mary Pickford Celebration of Silent Film, film preservation initiatives and the digitization of components of the library’s Mary Pickford Collection.
As Dawn Hudson, the Academy’s CEO, said when announcing the partnership, “We are thrilled that together with the Mary Pickford Foundation we will bring the groundbreaking work of Mary Pickford and the pioneers of the silent film era to the attention of a new generation.”