The Paley Archive opens in the Beverly Hills Public Library

The Paley Center for Media officially opened the Paley Archive in the Beverly Hills Public Library on March 20. This is the first time in five years that the Paley archive will have a public space in Beverly Hills after its former location on the N. Beverly Drive was closed during the pandemic.

The Paley Center was founded in 1975 by the founder of CBS, William S. Paley, and has been running in New York City for 50 years. The Center SpeerSpecanspaud for its respected programming and Spears about the cultural, creative and social importance of media.

“The Paley Center was founded to offer a place where the public could see. This happened in the days before streaming, VHS or even DVDs,” Gary Browning, Manager of Paley Center, told The Courier. “If your favorite show goes out of the air, you would never see her again.” The organization was originally referred to as a museum for television and radio and changed its name in 2007 to reflect the developing nature of the media in the 21st century. “We wanted something more general that could include other media forms such as games and podcasts,” said Browning.

The public can now access the Paley Center’s permanent media collection in the Beverly Hills Public Library. The room has 18 stations where visitors can use the computers and headsets to see a collection of 160,000 titles with televisions, radio programs and advertisements and cover a century of media history. The collection covers many genres, including comedy, drama, news, sports, politics, performing art, reality, animation, children’s television and documentary. It also contains particularly remarkable moments in media history, such as the first round of the MTV and the notorious program “War of the Worlds”. In addition to the public space, the library’s archive also has a private scholar room, which is intended for the exclusive use of Paley members and can be reserved in advance.

Communication director Teresa Brady told The Courier that the place of the new archive for the Paley Center was particularly important. “This library is such a cultural center and we are so proud to be part of it in the community. We have always produced programming in Los Angeles, so it is also wonderful to have a home for the archive here.”

The space of the Paley archive is located in the former “teen zone” of the library and has been completely rebuilt and redesigned and shows a collection of original paintings by Al Hirschfield characters. The archive is open to everyone. Browning is looking forward to welcoming visitors and saying the courier: “Interacting with people and sharing our love for television … I could talk about it all day!”

In addition to the archive, Paley will also hold personal events for the community, including the recognized monthly series “Talks with the Paley Curators”. “This series is put together by our Paley curators. We just started them in New York. It was a great success and now we will also bring it to the archive of the Beverly Hills Public Library,” said Brady. “A Paley curator will be here to talk about topics such as Stevie Wonder or Elvis ’90th birthday. We are also planning one for the 50th history of Wonder Woman.”

For families, the Paley Archive will hold a number of sessions of weekend stories exclusively in the public library Beverly Hills entitled “From Story Time to Screen Time”. The first of them will be in April and cover himself via Eric Carles “The very hungry caterpillar”. Children can read the book before watching a demonstration of the animation series by the archive. The handicrafts regarding the book are also offered.

The Paley Archive will also organize the “Paley Festival” on March 21st to 29th. This is a personal experience in the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. Episodes from several popular television programs are shown, followed by the chance that the audience can ask questions through moderated discussions with the actors and creators. For some shows that will soon be out of air, such as “Cobra Kai” and “The Handmaid’s Tale”, Paleyfest offers one of the last chances of interact with fans.

The Paley archive follows the same operating hours as the Beverly Hills Public Library.