Lou Castle’s Westwood Studios slide collection

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: 110.10977

Collection Scope and Content Note

This collection contains approximately 1,000 photographic slides and a dozen large print negatives of packaging artwork for, and screenshots of, various Westwood Studios video games from 1992-1995. Additional scope and content information can be found in the “Contents List” section of this finding aid.

Lou Castle’s Westwood Studios slide collection is arranged in one series which has been further divided into four subseries. The collection is housed in one archival document box.

Dates

Creation: 1992-1995

Conditions Governing Use

This collection is open for research use by staff of The Strong and by users of its library and archives. The donor has unconditionally given these materials, together with all intellectual property right or interest (including, but not limited to any copyright, trademark, and associated rights therein), to The Strong.

Historical Note

Westwood Studios was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based video game developer best known for its real-time strategy and role-playing games.

Brett Sperry and Louis (“Lou”) Castle founded Westwood Associates (later Westwood Studios) in 1985. Their original projects involved contract work, such as porting 8-bit games to 16-bit game systems. Westwood soon expanded its capabilities to create original video game titles for manufacturers across various platforms. In 1992, Virgin Interactive purchased Westwood Studios. Popular titles released during this time included Eye of the Beholder (1990), Dune II (1992), and the Legend of Kyrandia series (1992-1994). Electronic Arts, an early collaborator with Westwood, bought the firm in 1998. By 2003, Electronic Arts rendered its Westwood division defunct.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

This collection contains box artwork and screenshot slides of various Westwood Studios games produced between 1992 and 1995.

System of Arrangement

Series I: Westwood Studios artwork slides, 1992-1995

Subseries A: Legend of Kyrandia series

Subseries B: The Lion King

Subseries C: Command and Conquer

Subseries D: Other Westwood Studios games

Custodial History

Lou Castle’s Westwood Studios slide collection was donated to The Strong in August 2010 as a gift from Louis Castle. These slides and artwork were accessioned by The Strong under Object ID 110.10977. This artwork collection was received along with a donation of over 500 electronic game artifacts, books, magazines, and trade catalogs from Castle, co-founder of Westwood Studios.

Related Materials

The International Center for the History of Electronic Games at The Strong holds dozens of video games and other artifacts from Westwood Studios.

Record Groups

List 03. Archival Collections Related to Video and Other Electronic Games

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title: Finding Aid to Lou Castle's Westwood Studios Slide Collection, 1992-1995
Status: Completed
Author: Julia Novakovic
Date: 13 January 2014
Description rules: Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description: Undetermined
Script of description: Code for undetermined script