Albert C. Rosenfelder was instrumental in the early development of the Hollywood Heritage Museum, then known as The Hollywood Studio Museum. When he passed January 12, 1985, he left behind a substantial collection of movie memorabilia, a collection he had long hoped would one day be displayed in a museum. He attached his Hollywood Heritage membership card to his will, a gesture that ultimately helped ensure his estate was granted to the organization after a brief but complicated project period.  In the body of the will, he had designated his estate goes to "a" Hollywood museum, a phrasing that created ambiguity at a time when multiple entities were attempting to establish such institutions. 

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One contender was the Peter Gordon Group, which sought to create a museum in the Garden Court Apartment -an effort complicated by a disputed sale in which the building had been sold to two different buyers. Another was the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation, which held title to materials donated for an unbuilt Hollywood Museum planned opposite the Hollywood Bowl in 1960. 

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By 1983, the Lasky-DeMille Barn had been relocated to the earlier museum site under contract with Hollywood Heritage, prompting the County to approach the organization with a proposal: they would withdraw their claims to the Rosenfelder estate if the funds were used to install air condition and an alarm system. Hollywood Heritage readily agreed.

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Al was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1906. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he worked as a salesman and caretaker prior to relocating to Los Angeles sometime prior to 1950. He lived on McCadden Street in Hollywood, next door to Victor Carriero, a journalist with Brazil's Cinefilo magazine. Al owned two houses -one for his residence and the other dedicated entirely to his extensive collection. That collection, consisting of more than 3,000 photographs and paper documents related to performers of stage, screen, radio, television, and recording, became the foundation of the Hollywood Heritage Museum's permanent holdings. Among the materials are numerous letters and snapshots from silent-era performers whom Al and his friends personally visited and photographed.

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It was only when museum staff processed the full bequest that personal letters were discovered identifying Al as a member of the LGBTQ community. His dream of a museum lives on through the work we continue today, and during Pride Month, we honor the profound debt Hollywood Heritage owes to Al Rosenfelder.