About The Archive of American Television

Capturing television history, one voice at a time

Founded in 1997, the Television Academy Foundation’s Archive of American Television has conducted over 700 oral history interviews (over 3000 hours) with the legends of television. These interviews chronicle the birth and growth of American TV History. The Archive’s vision is to chronicle electronic media history as it evolves, whatever form it may take and make the interviews available worldwide. The Archive continues to produce new interviews every year. The collection covers a variety of professions, genres, and topics in television history. A complete list of all Archive Interviewees is available here:

The Archive collection includes interviewes with TV Legends from television's earliest days in the Farnsworth labs to current stars and visionaries. We cover all TV Professions: Actors, Directors, Writers, Producers, Art Directors, Stuntmen, Composers, Music Directors, Historians, News Anchors, Talk Show Hosts, Religious Broadcasters, Puppeteers, Animators, Lighting Designers, Editors, Production Designers, Announcers, Sportscasters, Audio Engineers, Cameramen, Publicists, Advertising Executives, Network Founders and more. Genres of TV shows covered include Animation, Children's Programming, Comedy, Detective shows, Daytime & Primetime serials, Dramas, Game Shows, Late Night, Talk Shows, Legal Dramas, Medical Dramas, Music & Variety, News & Documentary, Reality TV, Religious Programming, Sci-Fi, Sports, TV Movies, Mini-series, and Westerns. Topics covered by our interviewees include TV's Golden Age, Pop Culture, the Emmy Awards and Academy Awards, the Olympic Games, Television and the Presidency, the Television Industry, Standard & Practices, Censorship, The Creative Process, Network Creation, The Hollywood Blacklist, Media Consolidation, Studio Management, the Quiz Show Scandals, Technological Innovation, Historic Events and Social Change and more.

Grant A. Tinker, David L. Wolper, Tom Sarnoff, and Dean Valentine and founding Executive Producer Michael Rosen were the initial forces behind this historic collection. Television Academy Foundation Chairman Jerry Petry, Chair Emeritus Thomas W. Sarnoff, and Archive Director Karen Herman continue to guide the Archive's success.

We are working to continue to cross-reference and index these interviews, and improve our search functionality. If you would like to help sponsor our efforts, please contact us.

ARCHIVE OF AMERICAN TELEVISION STAFF

Bob McGrath