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

Michaels, the creator of “Saturday Night Live,” has donated his papers to the university’s Harry Ransom Center.

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

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.

Lorne Michaels, the creator of the long-running sketch comedy television show “Saturday Night Live” donated the materials from the show that launched

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

This year "Saturday Night Live" is celebrating its 50th anniversary and now the University of Texas at Austin will play a part in that TV history. The iconic show's creator and executive producer, Lorne Michaels,

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.