To maintain HHA’s professional standards, Professional Membership is restricted to those with career, archival, professional, and academic qualifications as General, Career or Student members. Membership is by invitation or recommendation. We review all new membership applications early in the new year.

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• General members will have produced materials of historical merit and will be working on history-based or history-related projects. Such achievements include articles, books, documentaries, presentations, or teaching classes.

• Career members are professionals whose primary job relates to film, animation, or Imagineering history, typically including employees of a film/studio archive, art/music library, film restoration team, historical site preservation, film history educator, or curator or docent of a relevant museum.

• Student Membership includes a limited number of undergraduate or graduate students with active interests in historical pursuits relating to HHA’s mission.

• Auxiliary Membership entitles the member to all privileges as full members, aside from voting rights and eligibility to serve on the HHA Board. An Auxiliary Membership is often granted to (a) writers, curators, and filmmakers who are working on a stand-alone project whose materials relate to the mission areas of the HHA (for example, a documentary filmmaker who is making one film that is focused, to some extent, on Disney-related history); (b) professionals in related fields (such as film preservation, art history, film studies, etc.) whose career interests are beginning to move toward Disney-related history; (c) an established scholar, writer or filmmaker whose work, though previously published or produced in other subject areas, is exploring a new project focused on Disney-related history; and (d) other professionals whose work is beginning to explore Disney-related history. Auxiliary Memberships are reviewed each year for renewal. It is expected that some Auxiliary Memberships may expire over time (for example, for a researcher who has finished a Disney-related project and has moved onto another subject area). It is also expected that some Auxiliary Memberships—after publication, production or career achievement—will be commuted to regular General or Professional Memberships.

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Heritage Membership includes those with longstanding connections to The Walt Disney Company and are defined as Emeritus or Legacy members.

 

• An Emeritus member is an individual whose past career is strongly associated with Disney, such as a retired animator, performer, or employee whose work was related to historical projects.

• A Legacy member is related to or enjoys a connection to a Disney employee whose work was significant to the company’s history.

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A Review Board will consider applications for new memberships to be approved a few months before the annual conference, with deadlines to be announced annually.

 

Professional member applicants will be asked to submit a one-page application letter outlining their past or present experiences to qualify for the General or Career membership status, along with the names of three current HHA members for referrals.