Oscar History.

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OSCAR HISTORY

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization composed of over 6,000 motion picture artists and craftsmen and women. The purposes of the Academy are to advance the arts and sciences of motion pictures; foster cooperation among creative leaders for cultural, educational and technological progress; recognize outstanding achievements; cooperate on technical research and improvement of methods and equipment; provide a common forum and meeting ground for various branches and crafts; represent the viewpoint of actual creators of the motion picture; and foster educational activities between the professional community and the public-at-large.

The Academy's field of activity does not include economic, labor, or political matters. The Academy was organized in May, 1927, as a nonprofit corporation chartered under the laws of California. Its original 36 members included production executives and film luminaries of the time.

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was the first president. Others have been William deMille, M.

C. Levee, Conrad Nagel, J. Theodore Reed, Frank Lloyd, Frank Capra, Walter Wanger, Bette Davis, Jean Hersholt, Charles Brackett, George Seaton, George Stevens, B. B. Kahane, Valentine Davies, Wendell Corey, Arthur Freed, Gregory Peck, Daniel Taradash, Walter Mirisch, Howard W. Koch, Fay Kanin, Gene Allen, Robert E. Wise, Richard Kahn, Karl Malden, Arthur Hiller and Robert Rehme. Current president Frank Pierson took office in August 2001.

From its founding until 1946, when it moved into a building in Hollywood, the Academy occupied a number of rented offices. In December of 1975, the Academy dedicated its new seven-story headquarters at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills.

For the first time in the organization's history, the Players Directory, the Margaret Herrick Library, the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, its administrative offices, and other facilities were all located under one roof.

Within a decade, however, the rapid growth of the holdings...