When Arthur creator Marc Brown decided to give away 10-plus years of show materials from his studio, a number of institutions were interested, but Brown chose Tufts.“We wrote that the combination of child development and media that we have here is so much in keeping with Marc Brown’s own vision for Arthur and the way he developed it, that we thought we would be the best home for the archives, and he agreed,” said Tufts child study and human development professor Julie Dobrow.
In 2009, 24 cartons arrived at Tufts, containing some 60 linear feet of written materials and 700 pieces of electronic media, mostly VHS cassettes, CDs, and DVDs.
The Arthur style guide from the Marc Brown Archives Photo: Courtesy of Tufts Digital Collections and Archives
The collection contains scripts; location designs; storyboards; and other material. Original comments by Marc Brown appear in many of the files. “You can see how the vision of Arthur changed, which is illustrative of what happens when you take a printed source and change it to a televisual one,” said Dobrow, who regularly takes her students on field trips to view the archives.
“The collection provides valuable insight into the production process of the show. Students are able to trace the process from concept to design to the final product. It’s the next best thing to working on the show itself,” said Dan Santamaria, director of Digital Collections and Archives. His favorite item is the Arthur Style Guide, which was designed to familiarize production staff with the themes, characters, and branding of various Arthur productions.
Over the last few years, the collection has been used by external researchers and some students in the Department of Child Study and Human Development, with the greatest number of users coming from Dobrow’s children’s media classes. “We’re very lucky to have the collection here at Tufts DCA,” said Pam Hopkins, public services and outreach archivist. “It’s a joy to work with these students as they make deeper connections to the materials, to the profession, and to their studies.”
