Academy Museum

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of film. The Academy was founded in 1927 and has annually awarded Academy Awards, now known officially as Oscars, to recognize artistic and technical achievement Many people around the world see the Oscars as the most prestigious awards in the global entertainment industry. Though the Academy is an American organization, the film industry has long been international as people from across the world work on American films and American films are distributed globally. Additionally, the Academy instituted an award for Best International Feature Film in 1947, making the awards more globally minded. And, because the Oscars are so prestigious and popular, they have also attracted popular criticism for biased awarding which favors white achievement and particular genres. In 2021, the Academy opened a museum dedicated to the history of film and the Oscars in Los Angeles.

Though many people may not consider film a part of global history, the Academy Awards touch on a variety of themes in global history, including the evolution of arts, the development of science and technology, the entertainment industry and global economy, global cultural contact and exchange, and popular culture.

The museum offers several online resources which educators might find useful to teach film history. In addition to their online collections database and articles on individual films and objects, the museum also offers a podcast on film production and history; a photo timeline of Award history which can be broken down into Oscar firsts, the Ceremony and Red Carpet, Music, Best Picture, and International Film; and an interactive map of Hollywood including photos and background on individual buildings. These resources, while limited, may be useful to educators who are interested in integrating art and architecture to their classrooms. Because the resources are all intended to provide more information on single topics, they would be best integrated with another lesson or with an activity rather than used alone.