Preserving a Show's Legacy

Archival Client:
The Oprah Winfrey Show
 

CHALLENGE:

The executive team of The Oprah Winfrey Show wanted to proactively plan for the show's end during their final year, by helping their staff start the year organized and have clear processes of where to send things. They needed a system to categorize and archive their treasures for easy retrieval as well as identify items of practical and sentimental value and distribute these to their most useful destination, i.e. Ms. Winfrey’s home, Harpo office, auction, given away. Along with organizing valuable items, they also wanted to identify items of no value and dispose of them properly (shredding, recycling or trash).

SOLUTION:

Our team started with a thorough assessment of their current systems, including Paper Filing, Electronic Filing, Memorabilia, Gifts and Supplies. Based on our assessment, we made adjustments to their systems, created a storage blueprint and supporting retention guidelines. Working with their staff, we organized 2 Full Office clean out days, providing guidance on how to tackle individual workstations and common areas, what to archive immediately, what to toss, and what to keep as active for the year. Once the office and staff were set-up for success, we reorganized the contents of each of the key storage areas according to our blueprint, grouping and separating items by category, and destination, i.e. Smithsonian, Santa Barbara Office, Auction, etc. 

To help their busy team maintain the new systems, we provided monthly on-site support, working one-on-one with team members when needed and helping items get to their proper home. Throughout the year, we also helped make arrangements for dissemination of items to various destinations, including tagging, coordinating, researching and overseeing the distribution.

RESULTS:

With easy and clear systems in place to complete projects and help the office stay clutter-free, the Orpah Winfrey Show team was able to spend the last year of the show more productive and focused on their most important goals. By spearheading getting these systems in place early on, the executive team reaped the benefits of having the final distribution of items complete within a month of the show’s closing.

The organized archive continues to be a valuable system for coordinating efficiently with museum exhibitions and events.