John Eldon Thayer collection of motion picture memorabilia
Overview
Collection of twentieth century motion picture memorabilia collected by John Eldon Thayer.
Dates
- Creation: 1916-1979
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on this material.
A portion of this collection is not housed at the Houghton Library but is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
35 linear feet (70 boxes)The majority of the collection consists of photographs of actors as well as letters written by actors to Thayer. Actors featured in the photographs include Alan Alda, Fred Astaire, Tallulah Bankhead, Alec Guinness, Raquel Welch, and Vera Zorina. Letters include those written by Elsie Albert, Mignon Anderson, Maxine Elliot, Vivien Leigh, Walter Matthau, Leonard Nimoy, and Lillian Walker.
Thayer also complied a series of scrapbooks as well as collecting autographs in small blank books. Other materials collected by Thayer include clippings, motion picture posters, and realia.
Biographical / Historical
John Eldon Thayer (1899-1980) collected motion picture memorabilia for almost 80 years during the twentieth century.
Arrangement
Arranged into the following series:
- I. Photographs collected by John Eldon Thayer
- I-A. Actors from motion pictures (visual works)
- I-B. Scenes from motion pictures (visual works)
- I-C. Other photographs
- II. Letters to John Eldon Thayer
- III. Compositions
- IV. Collected material
- IV-A. Autograph books
- IV-B. Clippings and files
- IV-C. Posters
- IV-D. Other collected material
- V. Scrapbooks
- VI. Realia
Physical Location
b, Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2004MT-70 and 2006MT-262r. Bequest of John Eldon Thayer, received: 1980.
General note
A portion of this collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. See access restrictions below for additional information.
Processing Information
Processed by: Alexis Dinniman and Jennifer Lyons.
- Title
- Thayer, John Eldon, 1899-1980. John Eldon Thayer collection of motion picture memorabilia, 1916-1979: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02025
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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