Cinematic Arts *: David L. Wolper Center

David L. Wolper is one of the most celebrated producers in television history and producer of some 800 collective works, He might be best known for his production of the ground breaking TV mini-series Roots and the creation of the celebrated film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Wolper was a recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and an inductee to the Television Hall of Fame. Throughout his career, Mr. Wolper's television programs received more than 50 Emmy, 7 Golden Globe, and 5 Peabody Awards. His motion picture films garnered 20 Oscar nominations, and 3 awards. He is also remembered for the creation of the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Roots, for which Wolper is perhaps best known, was a pioneering new television concept, the "mini-series," a twelve episode limited series, which established the rules for the many long programming formats to follow..  Teaming up with author Alex Haley, the author of the novel Roots, he brought to television audiences Haley's personal account of his family's lineage to the American Slave trade and the resulting plight of African Americans in the South. Roots attracted the largest audience of its  time and remains one of the most studied programs in television history.

In 1998, Wolper donated his personal archives to be housed in the David L. Wolper Center at the University of Southern California. This collection of memorabilia traces Wolper's career over the past half-century of entertainment and covers the process of filmmaking from the initial stages of development through distribution. The collection is of high interest to documentary filmmakers and students of both motion pictures and television. The Wolper collection materials can be identified by using the "FIND" screen on the Libraries Home page and searching under "Archives at USC." to find the Cinematic Arts Library of which it is a part.

Location

The David L. Wolper Center is located on the ground floor of USC's Doheny Memorial Library. Archival materials are available for viewing Monday through Friday, 10 AM-5 PM.  Holdings include production records and correspondence, manuscripts, story development files, screenplays and television scripts, original costumes and set designs, photographs, videos and dvd's of Wolper productions, publicity materials, artifacts and memorabilia, and development and post-production materials and correspondence.  Please contact the ctlibarc@usc.edu for an appointment.