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 600 long-form videotaped interviews with the pioneers and legends of television. The Archive’s vision is to chronicle electronic media history as it evolves, whatever form it may take and make the interviews available worldwide. We have digitized over 2,000 hours of original content, making hundreds of interviews accessible online, for free. We continue to produce interviews every year.

The Archive collection includes interviewes with TV pioneers from television's earliest days in the Farnsworth labs to current stars and visionaires. We cover all 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.

Award winning producer-executives Grant A. Tinker, David L. Wolper, Tom Sarnoff, and Dean Valentine were the founding forces behind this historic collection. Television Academy Foundation Chairman Jerry Petry, and Chair Emeritus Thomas W. Sarnoff 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 for sponsorship opportunities.

GET INVOLVED!

The Archive of American Television is a not-for-profit organization. We welcome contributions so that we may continue to collect and preserve this valuable historical resource for generations to come. To make a tax-deductible contribution, or find out about corporate sponsorships please contact Jenni Matz (matz@emmys.org) for further information.

ARCHIVE OF AMERICAN TELEVISION STAFF

Bob McGrath