199. Archivist Jason Schultz on Documenting the History of Disneyland

Jason Schultz works at Disneyland on his first day on stage on Main Street.

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Disneyland is nearing the park’s 70th anniversary, which will occur on July 17th, 2025. So much has changed during its history, and it’s easy to focus on a small fraction of that background. The official company stories typically fall into the same buckets and don’t veer beyond regular narratives. That’s why I enjoy seeing the different ways that fans and historians continue to document the park. A great example is the work of Jason Schultz, who developed the massive Parkendium digital archive.

Jason is my guest on this episode of the Tomorrow Society Podcast to talk about his work as a Disneyland archivist. We cover his background visiting the park in the ’90s and becoming obsessed with going as much as possible. His career as a federal archivist makes Jason the right person to approach Disneyland with a different perspective. He’s also working on a Disneyland thesaurus, which is really his main project. The digital archive sprung from that goal and took shape during the pandemic.

Jason Schultz takes a self portrait on the Mark Twain at Disneyland during a recent trip. — Photo by Jason Schultz

We also cover what Jason enjoys from the history of Disneyland and his visits during the present day. He loves riding the Mark Twain and getting such a cool perspective on the lands surrounding the Rivers of America. Jason describes his interest in Tomorrowland’s past given how many changes have occurred in that land since its early days. His stories of working at guest relations, including during the opening of Disney California Adventure are also a lot of fun. I close the episode by quizzing Jason on some of his favorite aspects of Disneyland, including his preferred attractions.