JAMESTOWN, N.Y. (WKBW) — The National Comedy Center announced Wednesday that rare artifacts belonging to Betty White have been donated to the center located in Jamestown, New York.
The announcement comes on the 37th anniversary of 'The Golden Girls' television debut, which was on September 14, 1985.
The Comedy Center received awards, clothing items, and hand-edited scripts from White that will be added to the permanent archives.
Most collection pieces come from her work on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Golden Girls," and "Hot in Cleveland."
Additional pieces come from her guest appearance on Saturday Night Live and her famous Superbowl XLV commercial.
“We are delighted to donate these important pieces from Betty White’s career to the National Comedy Center, the nation’s official home for the celebration and preservation of comedy. Betty was so wonderfully gifted as an actress and comedienne. She loved to make us all laugh for nearly one hundred years, and she believed wholeheartedly in the power of comedy to entertain, to open our minds, and to change the world. Now her work is on exhibit side-by-side with her dear friends and fellow artists, including Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore and so many others. We know that she would have been thrilled to be included in the National Comedy Center, and we hope her fans will visit to remember our beloved Betty and pay tribute her extraordinary legacy.”
"Betty would have been thrilled to be celebrated at the National Comedy Center -- not only because it's the official museum for comedy but because it's located in her dear friend Lucille Ball's hometown and based on Lucy's vision. It was one of the honors of my life to have both Betty and Lucy as close friends and cherished mentors, and to have worked so closely with them through the years. Now their legacies are preserved, side by side, for generations to come, which makes me very happy. We all miss them both dearly but their comedy is timeless."
Betty White died on December 31, 2021. She was 99 years old.
More information on her collection and the National Comedy Center can be found here.
