The Story of Disney: 100 Years of Wonder

The Walt Disney Company honors its 100th anniversary in 2023. As part of the festivities, this must-have coffee table book showcases the company's history and rich legacy—past, present, and future—through vibrant voices and rare Disney concept art and photographs.

On October 16, 1923, Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded what we now know to be The Walt Disney Company. Walt’s passion and vision continues to inspire creative development across the company. As a result, Disney characters—and their stories—have touched the lives of generations of fans. They encourage a belief that dreams really can come true.

As the official companion to the touring exhibition by Walt Disney Archives and SC Exhibitions, this gorgeous coffee table book serves as a treasure trove for pop culture enthusiasts, artists, art collectors, and Disney fans.

Searching for more ways to connect with the Disney Parks and films? Explore these books from Disney Editions:

• Delicious Disney: Walt Disney World: Recipes & Stories from The Most Magical Place on Earth
• A Portrait of Walt Disney World: 50 Years of The Most Magical Place on Earth
• Birnbaum's 2023 Walt Disney World: The Official Vacation Guide
• Birnbaum's 2023 Walt Disney World for Kids: The Official Guide
• Art of Coloring: Walt Disney World
• Maps of the Disney Parks: Charting 60 Years from California to Shanghai
• Poster Art of the Disney Parks
• Holiday Magic at the Disney Parks: Celebrations Around the World from Fall to Winter
• The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic
• The Disney Monorail: Imagineering a Highway in the Sky

JOHN BAXTER has written both fiction and nonfiction for a number of publishers, including HarperCollins, Berkley, and Hearst. He has been a featured comedy blogger for the Huffington Post, and is the author of four books for Disney Publishing Worldwide on a number of subjects. The first, Disney During World War II: How the Walt Disney Studio Contributed to Victory During the War (2014), came about as a result of the author's lifelong fascination with the studio. In addition to co-authoring the present volume, Baxter also authored The Disney Conservation Fund: Carrying Forward a Conservation Legacy (2016), ABC News: 75 Years in The Making, and has worked on the Disney Institute's forthcoming new edition of Be Our Guest: The Art of the Customer Experience.

BRUCE C. STEELE, editor in chief of Disney twenty-three magazine and supervisor of the digital Disney Newsreel and D23.com, is a journalist and Disney fan with a long career of profiling the famous and the unheralded, from the pastry chefs at the Biltmore Estate to the stars of Disney's Mary Poppins Returns. A Pennsylvania native and University of Alabama graduate, he started his career at a daily newspaper in Louisiana and most recently worked at the paper in his current home of Asheville, North Carolina. In between he was the executive editor of Out magazine and the editor in chief of The Advocate newsmagazine and also took time to get an MFA in film studies from Columbia University. He has lived in New York City and Los Angeles, where his husband was a Disney animator. Apart from his book One Day at Disney: Meet the People Who Make the Magic Across the Globe (2019), some of his favorite past interviews have been Emma Watson, Sir Ian McKellen, Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson and crawfish farmers in the Louisiana bayou.

THE WALT DISNEY ARCHIVES was established by Roy O. Disney, Walt Disney's brother and Chairman of Board, who determined that significant assets and documents relating to the history of The Walt Disney Company should be gathered and preserved, and that the recollections of key employees should be documented. Chief Archivist Emeritus Dave Smith was officially hired for this purpose on June 22, 1970, and since then, the Walt Disney Archives has curated millions of historic items, including books, art, awards, photographs, merchandise, props, costumes, and much more. The Archives team has assisted in research and review of hundreds of scholarly and documentary works in varied media and produced numerous exhibits for the presentation of the The Walt Disney Company's respected and beloved history to the public.