Lorne Michaels donates his "Saturday Night Live" archive to UT Austin's Harry Ransom Center, showcasing nearly 50 years of TV history.

Lorne Michaels has donated a collection of his work on Saturday Night Live and more to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. The collection spans 50 years and includes rehearsal notes for SNL,

Lorne Michaels, creator of NBC's “Saturday Night Live", has donated his archive to UT Austin's Harry Ransom Center.

Michaels has no official ties to UT or Texas, but he's the latest of a group of entertainment bigwigs to select the Ransom Center to host personal archives. Robert De Niro donated his archive in 2006, and Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner also donated the show's archive in 2017 .

Shelley Duvall, from left, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Lorne Michaels and Laraine Newman pose backstage at "Saturday Night Live" in 1977. The image is among the items in the Lorne Michaels Collection, an archive the series creator has donated to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

The archive offers a deep dive into the creative and production processes behind SNL, which has shaped American culture since its debut in 1975. MORE | #TBT: Robert De Niro iconic archives, including his two Oscars,

Live" celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and Michaels' collection includes materials from across the show's history.

Live" creator Lorne Michaels has donated his career archive to the Harry Ransom Center cultural archive at the University of Texas.

As a Delaware Online/News Journal's audience director each day brings a new challenge at work and supporting my daughter.

Peacock’s new docuseries has the massive task of defining a show that has defined culture for decades, as it peers into cast auditions, the writers room, the iconic cowbell sketch and the 1985-1986 season that almost canceled the show.

Lorne Michaels, creator of the greatest sketch comedy show of ALL time, "Saturday Night Live" just donated the show's entire archive to the University of Texas.