Many students who dig through the Warner Bros. Archives at the USC School of Cinematic Arts have feelings of being connected with the long history of Hollywood. On August 22nd, two visitors to the archives had the rare experience of digging through the archives and feeling more connected with their own family's history. The granddaughter of Jack L Warner, Anne Terrail and her son Felix Bergeret visited Warner Bros. Archives from Paris for the first time last month.

“It was a very special and moving experience,” said Sandra Joy Lee Aguilar, the Director of Archives at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. “Anne Terrail, who was named after her grandmother Anne Warner (Jack Warner's wife), was excited to see several beautiful photos of her grandmother that she had never seen before.”

The USC Warner Bros. Archives contains the paper departmental records of Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. and its motion picture-related subsidiaries (including First National and Vitagraph). The records document the period from 1918 (the release of the brothers’ first major feature film) through 1968 (the sale of the studio to Seven Arts). Also included are extensive production records for Warner Bros. television series from 1955-1968

“Warner Bros studio management had a policy that verbal communication causes confusion and that everything should be written down.” said Aguilar. ”The School of Cinematic Arts' Warner Bros Archives is a window into the stories of the daily work lives of studio employees and departments as told through memos, correspondence, and telegrams.”

For more information, please visit - cinema.usc.edu/wb