By Pete Vilmur
In the minds of many fans, and especially collectors, the Lucasfilm Licensing Archive has long been a source of endless fascination, thought to reside in a secret location and to contain boundless volumes of toys and other wares from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and other Lucasfilm properties. Its relative lack of press compared to the more high profile buildings within the sprawling Lucasfilm complex in the hills north of San Francisco have only further mystified its status, evoking images akin to the expansive warehouse interior seen in the closing credits of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Actually, the Licensing Archive appears like many other storage facilities, with rows of shelves holding scores of cardboard boxes and containers, each dutifully labeled for contents and location. The entire inventory of the Licensing Archive was recently moved and organized in a new facility on the Lucasfilm property, pulling up stakes from a secret location within the industrial district of nearby San Rafael.
Overseeing this massive undertaking was Archive Supervisor Marc Wendt, who actually began his career with Lucasfilm in 1994 as a project employee. "My job was described initially as a six month project removing stock from a room at Skywalker Ranch which was slated to become a Foley stage," explains Wendt. "During the course of my project George announced that he planned to make three more Star Wars films, which resulted in an increase in licensing activity and a subsequent extension of my project for another six months." Eleven years later, that original six-month project has spanned into a career that has allowed Wendt to witness some of the most robust merchandising in the company's history. Wendt's honed organizational skills and strict attention to detail have made the Lucas Licensing Archive a model of efficiency.
Having what many collectors might consider to be a dream job, Wendt was never a Star Wars collector before taking on the position eleven years ago. "Prior to 1994, I had never purchased or collected any Star Wars products," admits Wendt, "though I was well acquainted with the films and had seen them many times." In lieu of hands-on Star Wars collecting experience, Wendt did bring a set of skills and experience to the position that he'd gained while interning at the Bill Graham Presents Archive, a concert production company in the Bay Area. While there, Wendt became dedicated to the field of archiving by learning how to store and preserve an extensive collection of posters, tapes, apparel, and other concert memorabilia. With the monumental task of organizing, storing, and preserving an ever-expanding archive the size of Lucas Licensing's, clearly someone with Wendt's experience was essential.
