Margaret Herrick

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Margaret Florence Herrick , a native of Margaret Buck , first marriage to Margaret Gledhill (born September 27, 1902 in Spokane , Washington , † June 21, 1976 in Woodland Hills , California ) was an American librarian . From 1936 to 1943 she was the first librarian at the Margaret Herrick Library, which was named after her in 1971 . From 1945 to 1971 Herrick was Executive Director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences .

Herrick is also considered a possible namesake for the Oscar .

Life

Margaret Florence Buck was born in Spokane in 1902 as the only child of lawyer Nathan Kimball Buck and his wife Adda Myrtle Buck (native Morie ). She studied librarianship at the University of Washington until 1929 . She then accepted a position as the library manager of the Yakima Public Library .

Shortly thereafter, she moved to Los Angeles with her husband, Academy employee Donald Gledhill . There she worked unofficially for the Academy. Her husband became Executive Secretary of the Academy in 1934 and Margaret Gledhill was officially hired as the Academy's librarian in 1936 for a symbolic salary of one dollar a year. She quickly started expanding and structuring the library. When her husband was called up for military service in 1943, Margaret Gledhill was appointed as his successor on an interim basis by the Academy's Board of Governors. The marriage ended in divorce shortly afterwards. When her husband returned from military service and wanted to return to his post, she was officially appointed Executive Director of the Academy.

According to widespread opinion, especially in the annals of the Academy, Herrick gave the Oscar its name in the prewar period, as she is said to have exclaimed aloud when the officially named Academy Award of Merit was first viewed , it resembled her "Uncle Oscar", but by which she most likely meant her second cousin Oscar Pierce. However, other "godparents" are also mentioned in this context, including the film columnist Sidney Skolsky (first documented use of the name by journalists in 1934) and the actress Bette Davis , who repeatedly emphasized that the statue was dedicated to her first husband Harmon Oscar Nelson Jr. (1907–1975) remembered, but later supported Herrick's thesis.

In her second marriage she was married to Philip A. Herrick from 1946 and kept the name Margaret Herrick after the divorce in 1951.

From the mid-1940s Herrick supported the project to save the Paper Print Collection and later commissioned Kemp Niver to develop a restoration process for the paper prints, for which he was to be awarded an honorary Oscar at the 1955 Academy Awards .

In 1947, through her initiative, the library received the William Selig papers, the library's first major accession . With numerous other acquisitions, Herrick built the library into an important center of film studies research. In 1953, Herrick negotiated the first contract for the television broadcast of the Oscars of the year , which enabled the Academy to be more independent of the major film studios in organizing the events. Between 1963 and 1968 Herrick attended numerous international film academies, festivals, studios, universities and film schools.

When Herrick retired in 1971, the Academy's library, which she had a major influence on, was named in her honor Margaret Herrick Library . Margaret Herrick died on June 21, 1976 at the Motion Picture Country House in Woodland Hills .

literature

  • Anne Coco: Femme Boss: Margaret Herrick, Librarian and Executive Secretary of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the Second Generation of Hollywood Career Women . MLIS University of California, Los Angeles, 1998, 196 pages.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Academy Gets Femme Boss as Gledhill Joins Army . In: Daily Variety , Vol. 38, No. 31 of January 20, 1943.
  2. ↑ Get to Know Margaret Herrick . In: oscars.org, accessed January 22, 2009.
  3. ↑ Oscar statuette . In: oscars.org, accessed November 13, 2020.
  4. ↑ Scott Moore: Oscar, Oscar, Oscar ... . In: The Washington Post, Sunday March 26, 2000, page Y08.
  5. ↑ See Oscar #The Name with further evidence.
  6. ^ William Selig papers In: Margaret Herrick Library, accessed November 13, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Herrick, Margaret
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Buck, Margaret Florence (maiden name); Gledhill, Margaret
SHORT DESCRIPTION American librarian
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Spokane , Washington , United States
DATE OF DEATH June 21, 1976
Place of death Woodland Hills , California , United States