The Fairbanks Legacy: The Archives of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

This major exhibition provides an insight into the many facets that composed the life and career of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.: actor, producer, decorated naval officer, diplomat, author, and public servant. Through the material on exhibition, selected from Fairbanks's extensive personal archive, a portrait emerges of a man at home on the soundstages of Hollywood, the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., and the halls of Buckingham palace, as well.

Through personal photographs, correspondence, manuscript material, and memorabilia we can trace trace Fairbanks's life from his youth, growing up in the shadow of his swashbuckling father; through his own film career, both as an actor and producer, as seen through script pages, autobiographical manuscript pages, and warm reminiscences from such correspondents as Laurence Olivier, Greer Garson, David Niven, Buster Keaton, and Loretta Young; as well as his more serious side as an international "ambassador without portfolio" in correspondence from American presidents ranging from Franklin D. Roosevelt up through Ronald Reagan and, on the other side of the Atlantic, Lord Louis Mountbatten and the British Royal Family.

The breadth of the legacy of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. reverberates through his massive archive shedding light on a life of both style and accomplishment.

Located on the first floor of Mugar Memorial Library. The Exhibit can be viewed during regular library hours