PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2006
CONTACT: Jennifer Hanna
301/405-9336
jhanna@umd.edu
Jim Henson Video Treasures Now Online at UM Libraries
College Park, MD – The University of Maryland (UM) Libraries have launched The Jim Henson Works at the University of Maryland, http://www.lib.umd.edu/digital/henson, an innovative online digital project which makes available to UM’s community of students, scholars and visitors over 70 digital videos spanning 35 years of Henson’s groundbreaking work.
In January 2005, The Jane Henson Foundation and The Jim Henson Legacy generously donated videos and funding to support the creation of what is now known as The Jim Henson Works at the University of Maryland. This collection includes viewing copies of such important Henson works as compilations of early commercials and “Sam and Friends” segments, early experimental films, commercially released feature films and select representative episodes of “The Muppet Show”, “Fraggle Rock”, “Sesame Street”, “Jim Henson’s The Storyteller” and other pioneering works for television. These full-length videos are available for viewing at public computer stations in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, McKeldin Library and Hornbake Library.
The University of Maryland provides a wide range of research opportunities into Henson's work and puppetry in the performing arts, hosts exhibits and Websites, develops interactive interpretive content, and takes part in celebrations of Jim Henson's life. Henson, who died in 1990, and his wife, Jane, are graduates of the University of Maryland.
For more information about The Jim Henson Works at the University of Maryland, please contact Vin Novara, Curator for Special Collections in the Performing Arts, at vnovara@umd.edu or 301/405-9220.
The University of Maryland is the only nationally-ranked public university in the Baltimore/Washington area. With a total student enrollment approaching 40,000, the University is supported in its academic endeavors by the University of Maryland Library System, which is comprised of eight libraries and more than three million volumes. The UM Library System is the largest library system in the state.
The UM Libraries have an annual budget of about $23 million, of which ten percent is dedicated to electronic resources. The Libraries currently hold 247 licensed databases, 230 open-access databases, 17,000 full-text e-journals and 107,000 full-text e-books. The Special Collections at the UM Libraries also provide access to a broad array of extraordinary research materials.
The UM enjoys a growing national reputation as a top research University, and the Libraries support a top-notch faculty that includes 23 National Academy members, two Nobel Prize winners, six Pulitzer Prize winners, and four Fulbright Scholars, among others.
