Lloyd Thaxton Papers

The Lloyd Thaxton Papers fill 39 boxes and span the years 1862-2008.  Included are biographical materials, correspondence, newspaper and magazine clippings, professional projects files, publicity and promotional materials, photographs, and artifacts.

The biographical materials contain various documents from the period 1862-1997, reflective of the life of Lloyd Thaxton and of previous generations of the Thaxton family.  This subseries also includes a scrapbook relating to Lloyd’s childhood, his passport, school report cards from his kindergarten and Northwestern University years, a high school yearbook, financial records, and family baptismal records.

Additionally, this section contains records of awards received by Thaxton, including Emmy nomination certificates for Fight Back! With David Horowitz, and the 1983 Gold Award presented by the International Film & TV Festival of New York.

Correspondence spans the period from Thaxton’s 1945 service in the United States Navy to condolence letters written to his wife, Barbara, after his death in 2008.  This series includes personal and professional correspondence, including letters written by Jerry Lewis, Bing Crosby, along with a note from George W. Bush.

Among the correspondence is a series of over forty letters written from Thaxton’s friend, Jane Harr, during the summer between their junior and senior years at Northwestern, as well as during the subsequent winter break. There is one envelope dated June of 1950, the month of their graduation, but the letter was not present in this collection leaving no explanation of the relationship’s end.

In 1975, Thaxton’s three-minute radio serial Mansion of Mystery prompted letters from fans regarding the program’s fictional crimes and clues. Included in this section is one such letter addressed to the one of the show’s characters, Inspector Thomlason, as well as its response.

Newspaper and magazine clippings span the period from Thaxton’s teenage years through 2005, when he was researching DVD sales and looking at the possibility of a Lloyd Thaxton Show DVD release. Also included are clippings from Thaxton’s time at Northwestern University, referring to his participation in the annual Waa-Mu Show as well as to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Additionally, a number of reviews from The Lloyd Thaxton Show, Mansion of Mystery, Fight Back! With David Horowitz, and Stuff Happens (And Then You Fix It!) are contained here.

The professional projects portion of the collection includes files regarding many of Thaxton’s career undertakings including The Lloyd Thaxton Show, as well as everything he produced afterwards.  This includes papers varying from television to radio to motion picture treatments and print media, some of which were never produced; and early issues of Tiger beat magazine. A number of these files were organized by Thaxton himself, and this original order has been retained wherever possible.

Also found in this section are papers relating to Thaxton and John Alston’s 2003 self-help book, Stuff Happens (And Then You Fix It!), as well as plans for a second book, a memoir entitled So What? Although never published, excerpts from this were later used in Thaxton’s blog, which he updated frequently until his death until 2008.

Publicity and promotional materials from Lloyd Thaxton’s professional career span the years from 1948 to 2003.  This section includes programs from performances at Northwestern University and WSPD-TV in Toledo, as well as a number of advertisements for The Lloyd Thaxton Show specifically encouraging local networks to pick up the show.

Photographs in this collection include photographs from The Lloyd Thaxton Show, including appearances with the show’s musical guests such as Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Brubeck, The Supremes, and James Brown.  There are also a number of photographs pertaining to Thaxton’s family and personal life. Boxes 23 and 24 contain legal-sized photographs, and so are out of chronological order.

Legal and oversized items, audio records, and artifacts are contained in non-standard sized boxes and contain a variety of formats and items. Included are photographs, records, posters, a scrapbook, three large musical instruments (a saxophone, a trombone, and an electric guitar) and other props used on The Lloyd Thaxton Show, Thaxton’s pipe, a number of large plaques including one with Thaxton’s Northwestern University diploma, Thaxton’s jacket from the Director’s Guild of America, a large American flag presented to Mrs. Thaxton, and Thaxton’s military-issued grave marker which reads, "Husband and Father Beloved by Millions." This series is arranged by size and type of material, and chronologically within each box.

Audiovisual materials are held in boxes 35-39, and include videotapes (VHS), audiotapes, audiocassettes and  compact discs ranging in date from 1975-2008.