"This gift souvenir is a favorite piece of mine from the early Disneyland files of the Walt Disney Archives," says Archives Manager Becky Cline about the faithful reproduction of a Disneyland souvenir fan that D23 members are receiving with the summer issue of Disney twenty-three. "And as it is such a rare piece, we thought it would be a lot of fun to share it with our D23 members as part of the Walt Disney Archives Collection."

The fan is particularly close to Becky's heart. "My mother always carried a cardboard paper fan in her purse to use when the L.A. summers got to be a little too much to bear — air conditioning was not as prevalent in the 1950s and '60s, so a fan was still an essential accessories for ladies, and many businesses used them for advertising." It was the Disneyland souvenir fan, recreated just for D23 members, that Becky's mother used. "And I loved to play with it," Becky recalls. "Alas, my mother's fan disappeared many years ago, but I was thrilled to see one again in the Archives."

The fan is a reproduction of a very rare Disneyland souvenir. "Unlike the standard tri-fold fans of the '40s and '50s, this one has five 'folds' with tabs at the top that tuck together to create a usable fan," Becky explains. Each of the five folds is printed front and back with concept art of 10 Disneyland attractions — two from each of Disneyland's original five lands. Interestingly," Becky notes, "this souvenir was created so early that one of the major attractions pictured on the fan wasn't given its actual name! The section depicting the famous 'backside of water' scene from the Jungle Cruise is touted on the fan as 'Tropical Boat Ride.'"

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