'Mad Men' props, costumes, and archives find a home in Austin

Wondering where the fantastic props, costumes, and research that went into Mad Men will end up? Looks like the answer is Austin, Texas.

Show creator Matthew Weiner and the Lionsgate production company are donating the Mad Men archives to the University of Texas' Harry Ransom Center, according to a Thursday Associated Press article.

That donation includes scripts, drafts, notes, props, costumes, digital video, and voluminous research materials, according to the story.

Weiner said that the HRC’s high-profile Gone With the Wind exhibit, which he saw while attending a film festival in Austin, motivated his decision to choose the center’s humanities research library for the donation.

The Ransom Center is known for its aggressive acquisition of cultural archives, and its vast collections include everything from the oldest surviving photograph, a Guttenberg Bible, and the archives of author David Foster Wallace.

The Mad Men collection will illuminate how deep the show’s writers’ research went in search of authenticity, and Weiner said he hopes it will also illuminate the mistakes and missteps that were part of the process as well, the AP article reported.

Ransom Center film curator Steve Wilson told the reporter that it will take about a year to catalog the collection and that it will be available to researchers (which usually means anyone who asks and follows the HRC’s protocols) and the university's radio, television and film students; some articles will also be on public display.

• Don Draper and ‘Mad Men’ archive land at University of Texas [AP]