Hollywood legend Robert De Niro has long partnered with the Harry Ransom Center at University of Texas at Austin. In 2006, he donated his archive documenting his cinematic career, adding to the center’s vast collection of records and objects related to landmark films in American culture. Now, he’s helping the university’s research library and museum mark its 65th anniversary.

Taking place on September 24, 2022, at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center on the edge of the UT Austin campus, attendees will join De Niro for a star-studded gala dubbed “A Celebration of Film.” Honoring the history of film and filmmaking, the evening will highlight the impact and legacy of film archival history and will benefit the center's film collection and research mission.

“I strongly believe in and support what the Harry Ransom Center does to open the creative process of filmmaking to students and the community,” De Niro said in a release. “The Center has done a remarkable job curating a breadth of collections underscoring the history of the art form and the business.”

The Ransom Center’s film archive tells the stories of significant Hollywood producers, directors, writers, and actors from the silent era and the Golden Age of Hollywood through the rise of independent studios and into the age of blockbusters and the new millennium. The Robert De Niro Papers are a significant collection in the center’s holdings, covering aspects of filmmaking from scripts, production records, and costumes to props, film, and video. Scholars and students can follow the development of films from the printed page to the screen by exploring this vast collection.

As part of the university’s What Starts Here campaign, the September gala will also generate critically needed funding for a new endowment, the De Niro Curator Film endowment, created in appreciation of the actor’s continued dedication to the Harry Ransom Center.

“It is a privilege to welcome Robert De Niro, a great friend of the Ransom Center and ardent supporter of the arts, to Austin as we celebrate 65 years of archiving important American cultural history,” said Harry Ransom Center Director Stephen Enniss. “This endowment will support the ongoing work to preserve film history and inspire the next generation of filmmakers.”

For more information about the gala or to purchase tickets, visit the Harry Ransom Center. More information regarding surrounding events and the evening’s program will be announced in the coming months.