For fans who are not collectors by nature, the need to store and preserve samples of the various product lines produced through the years by a company like Lucasfilm may not be immediately clear. Wendt explains that product samples are sent to Lucasfilm in order to give everyone in the development chain a final look at what is being produced for retail, and to assure quality and continuity throughout the product lines. "We also use these samples for business purposes, like trademark protection," continues Wendt, "as well as to provide access to samples for the various departments for reference." The archive also serves in part as a personal collection of sorts. "Licensing provides copies of everything to George, so that he sees them and can request additional quantities of samples, for charities, gifts or other uses."
Even with his busy schedule, Lucas still finds time to enjoy the toys and other wares spawned by the various properties he's created. "George looks at final production samples several times a month," explains Wendt. "His name is first on my distribution list, so he sees everything I get."
Wendt recalls a rare instance where he caught Lucas at his office during a routine delivery of the latest toys. "He and I got into a discussion about a Chewbacca 12" figure which, for the first time, had real hair," remembers Wendt. "He clearly enjoyed talking about the items and looking at everything. It was a fun moment and the genuine enthusiasm he showed in the product has always been a source of inspiration and satisfaction for me."
Fans have often wondered if Lucas keeps a personal collection of the items produced by the Lucasfilm properties. Early on, a separate "posterity collection" was actually established in the Lucasfilm Archive at Skywalker Ranch to house those items he wanted set aside. Items produced since 1994, however, have all been stored alongside the regular inventory within the Licensing Archive building. Wendt is responsible for preserving this collection by maintaining a fixed number of any given item so as to leave the posterity collection intact.Aside from processing the scores of items that flood into the Archive on a daily basis, Wendt has had plenty of time to determine which items rate high on his own personal list of favorites. "What I think is cool tends to be different than some of the more dedicated fan collectors," admits Wendt. "First and foremost I love the super-8 film reels for A New Hope and Empire -- those pieces just say so much about the time in history and the passion the audience had for these films. They pre-date VHS, and were the first way the public could actually own these films and watch them at home -- they demonstrate an important part of our licensing history."
"As far as unusual or unknown parts of our collection," continues Wendt, "there are the uncut Topps trading card sheets from 1977, and the vintage Takara Japanese action figures -- Darth Vader, C-3PO and stormtrooper. It's incredible to see Japanese language backing boards on vintage product -- it really drives home the scope of influence these films have had on the world."
Of course, Lucas Licensing's Archive is not limited to the Star Wars properties, although they do make up the vast majority of it. "Some of the more unusual items in our collection are the
But with so much in the way of marginally stable materials like photo-chemical film stock and paperback books filling the shelves of the Archive, certain measures must be taken in some cases to ensure their longevity. Therefore, some of the materials are stored in a humidity and temperature-controlled space. Wendt hopes that someday the entire collection will benefit from such measures. "Eventually, these materials are going to graduate from memorabilia status to artifact status and the challenge until then is to apply the resources we have in a smart way. I am confident that as we reach the point where more proactive measures are necessary, it will be part of our budgeting process to fund some of the conservation projects."
