Local News in Brief : Mary Pickford Center Dedicated

Actor Buddy Rogers was at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Griffith Park Wednesday to dedicate the Mary Pickford Education Center and Library. The center has three classrooms, a docent library and the administrative complex for the Western museum’s education department.

The center was funded by a $225,000 grant from the Mary Pickford Foundation, a donation made “because programs at the museum will emphasize the role of women and minorities, something about which Mary felt strongly,” said Rogers, husband of the late film star. Only once before has the Mary Pickford Foundation awarded funding at that level, he said, when a similar amount was given for the Mary Pickford Theater at the Library of Congress.