In June 2023, a team of three University of Wyoming student interns began researching the papers of Stan Lee, which are housed at the American Heritage Center (AHC). Their interns’ intention was to create an exciting and informative exhibit about the iconic comic book visionary. In addition to attending college full-time, devoting time to extra-curricular activities, and trying to carve out personal time, the three students, Hazel Homer-Wambeam, Liam Leslie, and myself, Rhiannon McLean, are about to see the fruition of our hard work. After almost a year of research and planning, the exhibit, Stan Lee: Beyond the Book, will open on May 1, 2024, at the AHC. This blog summarizes the process that has led up to this moment.
Avengers Assemble
Assembly of the curation team began in the Spring of 2023 when AHC Director Dr. Paul Flesher emailed Hazel to pick her brain about the collection. Hazel had already worked with the Stan Lee Papers for a project she completed for National History Day in 2015. “Back in high school, I participated for seven years in the National History Day (NHD) program. One of my projects was a documentary on Stan Lee, and I utilized the American Heritage Center’s Stan Lee Papers for the bulk of the research,” said Hazel. “As a 13-year-old NHD student, I took advantage of the AHC’s relationship with Stan Lee to set up a ten-minute phone interview with him, which I included in the documentary.” Dr. Flesher did not just want to pick her brain; he wanted her to take on the role as Lead Intern for the Stan Lee exhibit curatorial team. This project, she says, is a “full circle moment” for her.
At that time, I had just lost my bid for President of the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming, an organization I had been a part of for three years. Although I had won my senate race, losing the presidential race meant that I did not have summer employment. To announce my loss to family and friends, I jokingly posted on social media that I was “looking for a summer job”. Hazel, who I had met through ASUW when she was Chief of Staff in 2021, messaged me privately to ask if I knew anything about Stan Lee. A lifelong comic collector, I jumped at the chance to apply. Fortunately, despite Hazel and Dr. Flesher’s shock at my love for DC Comics over Marvel, I was offered a position on the team.
Liam was at an Honors College event seated next to Hazel when he learned of the project. “Given the legacy of Stan Lee, my curiosity was immediately piqued. At that point, the projected responsibilities of the interns were still relatively vague, but I knew that it was an endeavor that I wanted to be a part of,” Liam said of his interest in the project. He applied for the project while on study abroad in Japan, and even interviewed from Tokyo. “My desire to be a part of the project increased during my time there as I came across many Marvel stores and witnessed people from all over the world wearing apparel depicting Stan Lee’s most famous characters.”
In addition to the three student interns, Robert Kelly and Patty Kessler were brought on to supervise the curation process. Robert, currently a staff member in the AHC’s Reference Dept., had previously used Stan Lee’s papers to research the 1960s Batman television series. His familiarity with the collection as well as AHC procedures made him well-suited to guide us. Patty, a retired History and American Studies professor and now an AHC Archives Aide, brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team. Her recent curation of a part of the AHC’s The Art of the Railroad exhibit demonstrated her ability to effectively organize and present historical materials. With the team put together, the time came to venture into the hundreds of boxes of material.
Exploring Excelsior
In June 2023, the curation process officially began with all three interns diving into the collection boxes. Initially, we had little idea of what direction we were headed. Dr. Flesher’s vision at that time was to develop a team of researchers that would explore the collection in depth, and through that process, find major points of interest to turn into an exhibit. In the early days of curation, finding material was difficult – not because it was not plentiful and interesting, but because it was all extremely interesting. Every signature, drawing and first draft was jaw dropping, but we were tasked with narrowing that material down into sections.
We chose to approach the material topically rather than linearly. The timeline of Stan Lee’s life is easy and has been done before. Lee’s career spanned from the 1930s to the 2010s, meaning that it would have potentially been a messy viewing experience. In order to get a closer look at Stan Lee as a creative, businessman and individual, we divided our research into categories, with each intern curating a third of the final product.
We developed a system where the interns would take several boxes and note what was in each. If those boxes had material primarily pertaining to another intern’s area of interest, we would let them know and we would change course. In doing that, we were able to narrow things down to eight distinct parts.
I am a political science major, so my interest quickly turned to Stan Lee’s political cartoons and relationships with politicians. I also became fascinated with the donor files, which outlined the AHC’s relationship with Lee through their correspondence. This became the subject of the opening of the exhibit and my first blog post.
Hazel, on the other hand, became interested in the globalization of comic books and the thousands of pages of fan mail that Stan Lee kept. Marvel’s comics were sold all over the world, and fans would write to him to share the impact the comics had on their lives. Lee also received fan mail from celebrities such as Paul McCartney and Gene Simmons, which are featured in the exhibit. Hazel described what she discovered in another AHC blog post.
Liam, an education major and student teacher, excavated the papers for material about Stan Lee’s love of education and literacy. As detailed in Liam’s blog post, Lee toured the country speaking at K-12 schools, colleges, and universities to promote comic books as a tool for literacy. Liam also took on Lee’s business practices. The collection features multiple boxes focused solely on Marvel’s growth and business dealings, including the creation of Marvel Film Productions. In addition, this material included Lee’s activities after he left Marvel, at which time he went on to create POW! Entertainment and Stan Lee Media.
Given the specific nature of our sections and the massive amount of material, some things did not make it into the main exhibit but were too interesting to cut entirely. The exhibit will feature additional information showcased in the section, “Marvelous Misfits,” also curated by the interns. These objects did not fit into the eight distinct segments we picked for the main exhibit but were still fascinating and warranted their own spot. Marvelous Misfits features six objects and stories from the Stan Lee Papers, including Stan Lee’s relationships with artist Jack Kirby and male magazine publisher Hugh Hefner. These will be located inside the AHC’s Loggia, separate from the rest of the exhibit, and we hope that they encourage the public to dive into the archive themselves.
The curation and design stages were the longest phase of the process. In August 2023, to ignite our imaginations, we traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to visit the Bob Dylan Center and the Woodie Guthrie Center. Here we were able to ask questions of and collaborate with the curators of these two institutions about their approach to planning, developing, and implementing an exhibit based on the life of a creative and entertainer. This experience was integral to the final installation of Stan Lee: Beyond the Book, and a great bonding experience for our team.
After the material was chosen, scanned, and organized, the AHC’s photography lab supervisor Theoren Sheppard helped us design the exhibit and begin the mounting process. I personally really enjoyed the curation portion but really struggled with the design and mounting phase of the exhibit. Hazel’s mastery with graphic design and Theoren’s expertise in exhibit creation was integral to this process.
Beyond the Book
So, finally, after almost a year of research and curation, our team is ready to show the world our exhibit. We could not have accomplished this, however, without the assistance of the American Heritage Center Staff, including but not limited to those named in this blog, and the University of Wyoming community. Additionally, we want to thank Kartoon Studios for the material that they are sending to be featured in the loggia during the exhibit’s run.
Stan Lee: Beyond the Book opens May 1, 2024, in the American Heritage Center Loggia and will run through the fall of 2024.
‘Nuff Said
Post contributed by AHC Intern Rhiannon McLean.
