My friend Cynthia Gentry alerted me that the 20th Century Fox research library is in danger of closing. Here’s why it matters, and what you can do. From Cynthia:

“Some of you in the Film and Creative communities may have already heard that the 20th Century Fox studio research library (one of the very last, and definitely the best) is in danger of being lost forever…
The 85-year-old library is a priceless resource, a part of film history and our larger cultural heritage. I could go on at great length about the things you can find in this library that you won’t find anywhere else; as one commenter said:

‘Since when can you walk into a public library and find books on what planes look like when they crash and how you recreate a black box, what medical kits looked like in WW2, original articles about the sinking of the Titanic, costume references for Spanish California, etc. etc. etc. I could spend all
day long in a public library and not get what I need in two hours at Fox.’

The library may not have a home at Fox but it should have a home in Los Angeles, the place where it was born and nourished and grew. The library is a living, working collection, designed to support filmmakers – writers, directors, art directors, costumers, creative execs, production execs, on down the line. It’s not a book museum or an archive. Let’s see it continue to serve the creative community for another 85 years!”

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