Actress Gloria Swanson was born Gloria May Josephine Swanson on March 27, 1899, in Chicago, the only child of Joseph Theodore and Adelaide Klanowsky Swanson. Her father's position as a civilian supply officer with the army took the family to Key West, FL and San Juan, Puerto Rico, but the majority of Swanson's childhood was spent in Chicago.
It was in Chicago at Essanay Studios in 1914 that she began her lifelong association with the motion picture industry. She moved to California where she worked for Sennett/Keystone Studios before rising to stardom at Paramount in such Cecil B. DeMille features as
In 1938, Swanson relocated to New York City, where she began an inventions and patents company which occupied her during the years of World War II. She made another film for RKO Radio Pictures in 1941, began appearing in theatre productions, and also had her own television show in 1948, but it was not until 1950 when
Swanson made only three films after
Married six times (to Wallace Beery, Herbert K. Somborn, Marquis Henri de la Falaise, Michael Farmer, William M. Davey, and William Dufty), Swanson had two daughters (Gloria Somborn and Michelle Farmer), an adoptive son (Joseph Patrick Swanson), and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren by the time of her death in New York, on April 4, 1983.
For further information on the life of Gloria Swanson, see:
Swanson, Gloria.
Quirk, Lawrence J.
The papers of actress Gloria Swanson (ca. [18--]-1988, bulk 1920-1983, 620 boxes) document her career accomplishments, her business ventures and her various interests, as well as her childhood, family, personal relationships, and private life. Included are correspondence, photographs, scripts, production records, financial and legal records, publicity materials, clippings, scrapbooks, published materials, film, audio recordings, music, writings, art work, and artifacts.
In the foreword to her autobiography, Swanson explained her eighty year accumulation of "files and scrapbooks and photographs and films and letters and documents" with the statement "I never throw anything away." Also a diligent custodian, she shepherded records from California to New York, installed state-of-the-art mechanical filing cabinets in her office in the 1950s, and even hired an archivist to order her papers after they were "ransacked" during the writing of
The collection is now arranged in seven Series: I. Correspondence (1907-1983, 85 boxes), II. Career (ca. 1914-1983, 118 boxes), III. Business Interests (1921-1982, 76 boxes), IV. Other Interests (1923-1983, 51 boxes), V. Biographical/Personal Papers (ca. [18--]-1983, 110 boxes), VI. After Death (1983-1988, 1 box), and VII. Formats (1889-1983, 147 boxes). Though these groupings represent a comprehensive structure never realized during Swanson's lifetime, they continue, to some extent, the arrangement process begun in 1980. Internal files document various surveys of the papers, 1980-1982 (see folders 16.4-17.8).
As many files as possible have been placed in the context of their original creation, left in their original order, and grouped together in the appropriate series. Materials which had apparently been separated for research or otherwise segregated (such as "VIP" correspondence) have been reintegrated into the collection. Other parts of the collection, which were so chaotic as to be virtually unuseable (i.e., United Artists, Health and Nutrition subseries, clippings, photographs, etc.), have had order imposed upon them.
The collection contains extensive records (including numerous film stills) of Swanson's career in motion pictures, encompassing sixty-six films, ca. 1914-1975. Her film career spanned the early days of slapstick two-reelers, the peak of the silent era, and the transition to sound and other technological developments. Her role as one of the first women to independently produce her own films at United Artists, 1925-1933, is traced by the records of her production companies. These companies produced six of her films, including the controversial
Also represented is Swanson's involvement in other entertainment branches, which extended to radio (1927-1981, including
Numerous scripts, synopses, stories, and treatments, representing writers such as Zoë Akins, Jay Presson Allen, Lenore J. Coffee, James Ashmore Creelman, Lilyan Kemble Cooper, Laura Hope Crews, Delmer Daves, William Dufty, Laurence Eyre, Allan Jay Friedman, Leonard Gershe, Forrest Halsey, Ben Hecht, Harold J. Kennedy, Alan Jay Lerner, Josephine Lovett, Clare Boothe Luce, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Frances Marion, Richard Matheson, Preston Sturges, C. Gardner Sullivan, Erich von Stroheim, and Billy Wilder, are also present in the collection.
The film stills and other numerous photographs in this collection include the work of many photographers, among them Ernest A. Bachrach, Edward O. Bagley, Russell Ball, Cecil Beaton, Marcus Blechman, Clarence Sinclair Bull, Harold Carter, Irving Chidnoff, William Eglinton, Eliot Elisofon, G.L. Manuel Frères, Maurice Goldberg, Ellen Graham, Philippe Halsman, George Hoyningen-Huene, George Hurrell, G. Maillard Kesslere, Donald Biddle Keyes, Roddy McDowall, Jack Mitchell, Nickolas Muray, Alexander Phillips, Melbourne Spurr, Edward Steichen, Karl Struss, Stig Svedfelt, and others.
Swanson also kept extensive records of her efforts as a businesswoman, which included cosmetics, a fashion line, hosiery, an inventions and patents company, a travel agency, and writing assignments. Included are the records of Gloria Swanson Enterprises, Inc. (1959-1977) and Swanson-Dufty Enterprises, Inc. (1977-1981), as well as the papers of Multiprises, Inc. (1937-1951), which financed and exploited various inventions by a group of four World War II refugee inventors from Austria and Germany. Her fruitful and long lived association with Puritan Fashions Corp. (1951-1982) is captured in the archive, as are numerous writing projects, culminating in her popular autobiography,
Additionally, the collection also contains evidence of Swanson's varied personal enthusiasms: art (original art and sculpture by Miss Swanson, including a design for a United Nations Postal Administration stamp issue commemorating the Decade for Women, 1980); fashion (in addition to costume designs and the records of her commercial clothing line, there are associations with designers such as Coco Chanel, Edith Head, René Hubert, Givenchy, Pauline Trigere, Adam Werlé, and Valentina); health and nutrition (an early enthusiast of organic foods, her papers document a tireless crusade against chemical additives, inorganic pesticides, and pollution, her efforts in the passage of the so-called Delaney Bill in 1958, and participation in the Independent Cancer Research Foundation, the Committee for Independent Cancer Research, and the Patients' Aid Society); music (she sang on film, television, and stage, and numbered George Gershwin, Rosa Ponselle, and Jascha Heifetz among her friends); psychic phenomena and religion (her proclivities as a spiritual seeker are indicated in materials concerning such organizations as ESP Research Associates Foundation, the United Church of Religious Science, and the University of Science and Philosophy); politics (her campaign activities for Wendell Willkie, Thomas E. Dewey, and Ronald Reagan are included); science and technology (including visits to Bell Helicopter and to NASA, from which she cherished an autographed picture and drawings by Werner von Braun); and travel (England, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Russia, and Sweden, represented chiefly through photographs).
Swanson's childhood, family life, and personal life are further documented through such personal papers as address books, appointment books, photographs, and various personal financial, legal, and property records.
There is a wide range of correspondence, located primarily in Series I., but also scattered through the other series due to the inevitable overlap of personal, career, business, and other relationships. Among Miss Swanson's correspondents are family, friends, business associates, acquaintances, and fans, spanning many notables from numerous fields of endeavor: Michelle Amon, Kenneth Anger, Robert Balzer, Vilma Banky, Beverly Bayne, Henry G. Bieler, Earl Blackwell, Virginia Bowker, Charles Brackett, Lewis L. Bredin, Harry A. Bruno, Carol Burnett, George Bush, Francis X. Bushman, Richard Evelyn Byrd, Walter Byron, James Cagney, Eddie Cantor, Carol Channing, Charlie Chaplin, Maurice Chevalier, Ronald Colman, Noel Coward, Fleur Cowles, Joan Crawford, George Cukor, Gloria Daly, Marion Davies, James J. Delaney, Cecil B. DeMille, Indra Devi, Thomas E. Dewey, Marlene Dietrich, William Dufty, Allan Dwan, Nelson Eddy, Mamie Doud Eisenhower, Harlan Ellison, Douglas Fairbanks, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Michael Farmer, José Ferrer, Allan Jay Friedman, George, Duke of Kent, George Gershwin, Margaret Ghika, Lillian Gish, Hubert de Givenchy, Elinor Glyn, Samuel Goldwyn, Ram Gopal, Edmund Goulding, D. W. Griffith, Gladys Griffith, Alec Guiness, Edmund Gwenn, Forrest Halsey, Oscar Hammerstein II, Helen Hayes, Will H. Hays, Edith Head, William Randolph Hearst, Ethel Helmsing, Katharine Hepburn, Conrad Hilton, Prince Franz Hohenlohe, Bob Hope, Hedda Hopper, Edward Everett Horton, L. Ron Hubbard, René Hubert, William Bradford Huie, George S. Kaufman, Buster Keaton, Edward Moore Kennedy, Harold J. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy, Rose Kennedy, Jean Kerr, Edward I. Koch, Henri de la Falaise, Beatrice LaPlante, Henri Langlois, Rod LaRocque, Jesse L. Lasky, Evelyn Laye, Vivien Leigh, Alan Jay Lerner, Mervyn LeRoy, Clare Boothe Luce, Joel McCrea, Roddy McDowell, Frances Norton Manning, Arlette Marchal, Stanley Marcus, Frances Marion, Gene Markey, Herbert Marshall, Somerset Maugham, Louis B. Mayer, James Michener, Condé Nast, Marshall Neilan, David Niven, Richard M. Nixon, Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, Albert Parker, Louella Parsons, Mary Pickford, Zasu Pitts, Harold Prince, Ronald Reagan, Charles Revson, Carroll Righter, Ginger Rogers, Eleanor Roosevelt, Joseph M. Schenck, Else Schiaparelli, David O. Selznick, Ted Shawn, Eunice Shriver, Herbert K. Somborn, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Steichen, Preston Sturges, Ed Sullivan, Joseph Patrick Swanson, Joseph Theodore Swanson, Constance Talmadge, Norma Talmadge, Bess Truman, Valentina, Erich von Stroheim, Raoul Walsh, Barbara Walters, LeRoy P. Ward, Jack Warner, Clifton Webb, Orson Welles, Dan Werlé, Billy Wilder, Lois Wilson, Sam Wood, Adelaide Woodruff, Florenz Ziegfeld, Adolph Zukor, and others.
An extensive index of correspondents (which also includes photographic subjects, prominent photographers, and some topics) has been created in order to locate materials which are dispersed through the collection. The index is selective and should by no means be considered exhaustive. Persons and subjects were selected for their own intrinsic importance, as well as their quantity and importance within the collection. Individual actors in the stills are
Though this collection is substantially complete, it is probably weakest in the area of personal materials for the 1920s through the mid-1940s. The permanent move to New York in the late 1930s, the arrival of long-time staffers such as Gladys Griffith in the 1940s, and the longevity of these arrangements seem to have contributed to a more stable and consistent climate in which the more comprehensive papers of the 1950s through the 1970s were created. Items not present in this archive include the bulk of Miss Swanson's film holdings, which were acquired by George Eastman House in 1967. For further information on those materials, see folders 201.1-201.8. For the disposition of certain other items after her death in 1983, see box 441.
Purchase (1982) and gift (1983-1988)
Open for research. Please note that an advance appointment is required to view items in Series VII. Formats, Subseries I. Realia and to view photographic negatives, positives, filmstrips, and slides in the Reading Room.
Joan Sibley, with assistance from Kerry Bohannon, David Sparks, Steve Mielke, Jimmy Rittenberry, Eve Grauer, 1990-1993
Other collections at the Ransom Center which contain Swanson materials include:
Art Collection
Book Collection
Film Collection
Manuscripts Collection
Includes correspondence, with various enclosures (clippings, photographs, financial or legal documents, script proposals, etc.) from Miss Swanson's family, friends, business associates, acquaintances, and fans, 1907-1983 (bulk 1950s-1960s). This series is divided into General Correspondence, Unidentified Correspondence, Book Withdrawals, Fan Mail, and Fan Address Cards.
Arrangement of this subseries is alphabetical by name or subject, with chronological groupings within each letter of the alphabet. This appears to be the manner in which Miss Swanson's staff (chiefly Gladys Griffith) kept her papers, from the mid-1940s through the 1970s. Carbons of outgoing correspondence were generally kept with the pertinent incoming correspondence. The relatively small (and mostly unorganized) amounts of general correspondence from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1980s have been regularized into this system. Most correspondence from the 1920s and 1930s is film related and located in Series II., Career, especially in the United Artists subseries. The 1940s are most prominently represented in the Multiprises, Inc. subseries of Series III., Business Interests.
While a number of correspondence files dealing with specific topics such as film, television, theatre, business projects, etc. have been placed in more appropriate series dealing with Miss Swanson's career and business interests, this subseries should by no means be regarded as purely personal correspondence. Many relationships overlapped personal, career, business, and other interests to a great extent.
Among Miss Swanson's myriad correspondents, reflecting the wide range of her career, her business associates, her interests, and her personal relationships, are:
Other notable correspondents include business magnates Conrad Hilton and Stanley Marcus, dancer Ram Gopal, explorer Richard E. Byrd, health and nutrition advocates Robert Balzer, Michio Kushi, and Indra Devi, inventor Henri A. Coanda, photographer Edward Steichen, religious proponents Kathryn Kuhlman and L. Ron Hubbard, and royalty, such as George, Duke of Kent, Margaret Ghika, and Prince Franz Hohenlohe.
Family correspondence includes the earliest items in this subseries, that from Swanson's parents (Joseph Theodore Swanson and Adelaide Woodruff). Also present is correspondence from her children (Gloria Daly, Joseph Patrick Swanson, and Michelle Farmer Amon), and husbands (Herbert K. Somborn, Henri de la Falaise, Michael Farmer, William Davey, and William Dufty), as well as from various aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandchildren.
Correspondence with the various professionals and personnel employed by Miss Swanson frequently offers deeper insights into the details of her life and career:
The correspondence of personal intimates such as Robert Balzer, Virginia Bowker, Gladys Griffith, Ethel Helmsing, René Hubert, Beatrice LaPlante, Frances Marion, Marshall Neilan, LeRoy P. ("Sport") Ward, and Lois Wilson provide more lengthy and revealing glimpses of friendships. Correspondence from Lewis L. Bredin, Herbert Marshall, Joel McCrea, and Gustave Schirmer documents other close relationships. There is relatively little correspondence with Joseph P. Kennedy (most of it appearing in Series II., Career) and it is generally characterized by business dealings.
Among some of the more intriguing pieces of correspondence are: a letter from a twelve year old John F. Kennedy, thanking Miss Swanson for a Christmas present; a signed, self-caricature note from George Gershwin; René Hubert's voluminous, illustrated correspondence; early papers of Herbert K. Somborn's company, Equity Pictures; and the series of "hate mail" from Kenneth Anger, which arose from a lawsuit involving his book
Correspondence is separated into outgoing (1 folder) and incoming (9 folders) correspondence, and then arranged chronologically insofar as possible. Most of these are signed only with first names, or are unsigned, or illegible.
Includes 14 items of correspondence which were withdrawn from books in Miss Swanson's personal library. Her library is cataloged in the University of Texas online catalog (UTCAT), and copies of the relevant catalog cards are sleeved with each piece of correspondence.
This correspondence remains organized in the two groups in which it was found: one chronological group, the other grouped by subject, name or other category. Some fans, such as Amber Rau and Sonya Rudzinski, became friends and more of their correspondence is found in the General Correspondence files. Others, such as Aario Marist, remained unknown to Miss Swanson, but continued to send large amounts of correspondence. Many fans included sketches, drawings or other art work depicting Miss Swanson with their correspondence. Occasionally, the letters are annotated with Miss Swanson's comments or reactions, or carbons of responses are included.
Fan mail also frequently appears in files scattered through Series II. Career, in files dealing with particular film, radio, television or stage appearances.
These boxes contain fans' addresses kept on index cards. These were removed from metal file card boxes, but kept in Swanson's order of United States (A-Z) and Foreign (A-Z). Occasionally there are notes that a photograph or letter was sent, or perhaps a phone call was made. These cards were possibly used in connection with mass mailings, such as
Included in this Series are materials documenting all aspects of Miss Swanson's career accomplishments, 1914-1983. This series is divided into the following subseries: Film, Film Festivals, Radio, Sound Recording, Television, Theatre, Proposed Projects, and Miscellaneous Career Related.
The film subseries is arranged chronologically by studio, and within each studio phase, chronologically by the release date of the film. For each film, materials are usually grouped alphabetically by the format of the items.
Documentation varies widely from film to film, through most are represented by stills. The stills have been put in key-number order, i.e., the numbers assigned to each shot by the studio. Those lacking key-numbers were put as nearly as possible in the order of the plot. Any candid set shots are usually filed at the end of the stills. Due to the variable condition of the photographs, especially for the earlier films, multiple stills have been left together unless they were so numerous as to hamper efficient viewing of the folders. In those cases (
Individual actors in the stills are
Nearly all of Swanson's sixty-six films, 1914-1975, are included in this subseries, with coverage for the earliest years at Essanay Studios, Sennett-Keystone Studios, and Triangle Company being the sparsest. The Famous Players-Lasky Corp./Paramount Pictures period, 1919-1926, is more comprehensively documented with groups of stills and scrapbooks, clippings, correspondence, contracts, and publicity items. The substantial correspondence, legal, financial, and production records of the United Artists period, 1925-1933, occupy forty boxes, while only meagre files remain for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Fox Films, and Columbia Pictures Corp. to elucidate Swanson's career during the rest of the 1930s. The scattered later films with RKO Radio Pictures, Paramount Pictures Corp., Warner Brothers, Titanus-Lux Films, and Universal City Studios, Inc. complete this subseries. Of these, the fullest records exist for Swanson's famous appearance in Paramount's
Actual film footage of Swanson contained in the collection has been stored separately, and now forms a part of Series VII.
Consists of a still from one film (
Accompanying this larger group of photographs is correspondence from Ruth Cahill, who sent the photographs to Swanson after reading
Includes stills, publicity and other photographs, a poster reproduction, a program, scrapbooks, and a title card, which represent ten of Swanson's Sennett-Keystone features, the best represented of which is
This is the least well represented period of Swanson's career in this collection, with only two publicity photographs and one keyplate (showing 19 stills) from the feature
Though predominately comprised of stills and other photographs, this subseries also contains clippings, contracts, correspondence, financial information, lobby cards, music, play and story booklets, post cards, programs, scrapbooks, and title cards. All twenty-seven of Swanson's silent Paramount films, during what is obviously the most productive period of her career, are represented to varying degrees. These include films with several distinguished directors: Cecil B. DeMille (6 films), Sam Wood (10 films), and Allan Dwan (8 films). The most fully documented film is
Correspondents include Cecil B. DeMille, Jesse L. Lasky, and Adolph Zukor.
In 1925, Swanson accepted a proposal from United Artists to become a partner and produce her own pictures. Due to Paramount contract obligations, however, she was not able to pursue her role as producer until 1926. This subseries consists of the records of her various production companies, 1925-1943:
Due to the overlap of operations of these corporate entities and the various films in different stages of production, Correspondence, Financial Records, and Legal Documents have been arranged chronologically. Production records are filed chronologically by production title, i.e.
Correspondence in this subseries, spanning 1925-1942 (bulk 1925-1933), occupies four boxes and all authors and recipients have been included in the Index to this collection. Prominent correspondents include Pierre A. Bedard, Virginia Bowker, Walter Byron, Charlie Chaplin, Lenore Coffee, Grace Crossman, Andre Daven, Cecil B. DeMille, E. B. Derr, Laurence Eyre, Douglas Fairbanks, Blanche Frederici, Elinor Glyn, Samuel Goldwyn, Edmund Goulding, D. W. Griffith, Texas Guinan, Will H. Hays, Lance Heath, Buster Keaton, Arthur W. Kelly, Joseph P. Kennedy, Henri de la Falaise, Josephine Lovett, Clare Marafioti, Louis B. Mayer, Thomas A. Moore, Conrad Nagel, Condé Nast, Bertram S. Nayfack, Dennis F. O'Brien, Albert Parker, Mary Pickford, Harry Poppe, Joseph M. Schenck, C. J. Scollard, Charles E. Sullivan, Constance Talmadge, Norma Talmadge, Erich von Stroheim, Irving R. Wakoff, Raoul Walsh, Jack Warner, and Lois Wilson. Most later correspondence (1938-1942) comes from United Artists and concerns the destruction of various prints of films.
Eighteen boxes contain financial records, 1926-1943. Present, in varying degrees over the years, are accounts payable, accounts receivable, audit reports, balance sheets, bills, budgets, checks (cancelled, carbons), certified accounts, disbursement vouchers, insurance, notes, production costs, production payrolls, purchase orders, reconciliations, taxes, trial balances, unfinished picture costs, and voucher registers. Though Swanson's association with United Artists ended in 1933, financial records, chiefly due to foreign receipts records, continue through 1943. Also present are United Artists financial statements, 1931-1932. Since there was apparently also some degree of overlap between Swanson's corporate and personal finances, the personal financial records in Series V. may provide further elucidation.
Legal documents encompass two boxes of corporate records and contracts for the period 1925-1934. The records within these folders have been described at the item level. Most items concern Swanson's companies and the various productions, though some concern other owned, but unproduced properties. A protracted financial dispute with director Albert Parker is also documented.
The films themselves are represented by a wide range of production records, 1926-1943: art, call sheets, cameraman's daily reports, cost sheets, clippings, costume plots, cutting scripts, daily developing reports, daily print reports, daily production reports, daily script notes, delivery reports, dialogue notes, director's projecting reports, editors notebooks, equipment inventories, extra talent plots, film shipments, location notes, music, negative orders, permits, photographs, post cards, preview cards, production reports, promotional items, props, posters, publications, publicity, research, schedules, scene plots, scripts, set notes, sound reports, stage logs, stills, title cards, titles, wardrobe notes, and worksheets.
A glance at the folder list of surviving production records for the films will show that documentation of the films varies considerably. Swanson's controversial
The following works were written using the United Artists subseries as primary source material and may provide a convenient introduction to these records:
Includes contracts and publicity photographs (some with Irving Thalberg), ca. 1930-1934. Swanson never actually made any pictures with MGM, though
Music and photographs, ca. 1934, represent
Correspondence (primarily with Harry Cohn, ca. 1937-1940) and contracts evidence Swanson's efforts to continue her film career. Folders 26.5-26.6 (Hawks-Volck Corp., 1934-1939) provides additional information concerning this association.
Includes clippings, a contract, correspondence, photographs, and publicity releases for Swanson's 1941 comeback film,
Includes files kept while Miss Swanson made public appearances as a Paramount spokesperson for
Files for
The substantial documentation for
Correspondents in this subseries include Virginia Bowker, Edith Head, Billy Wilder, and Adolph Zukor.
Includes contract, correspondence, photographs, promotional tour files, and scripts for the 1952 feature
Miss Swanson's files concerning
Documenting Miss Swanson's final feature film appearance in
Contains a small group of photographs, both stills and publicity, which have not yet been identified with a particular film.
Swanson's attendance at various film festivals, several of which honored her work, is documented through booklets, brochures, clippings, correspondence, invitations, photographs, posters, press releases, programs, receipts, schedules, and speeches. The files are arranged chronologically (1954-1982) and include A Tribute to Gloria Swanson at George Eastman House in 1966, a Cinémathèque Française Retrospective in 1974, and the Festival Canadien des Films du Monde, 1977.
Includes correspondence, scripts (also synopses and story outlines), photographs, music, clippings, and legal and financial records which document Swanson's radio appearances, 1927-1981. The types of programs include interviews, radio plays, serials, patriotic appeals during World War II, commercials, and talk shows.
Most of the material is arranged chronologically by program, 1934-1977. These files typically contain a script, synopsis, or story outline, plus any related correspondence or other items. The correspondence files, 1927-1981, generally represent programs for which no material other than correspondence exists.
It was not always possible to distinguish proposed shows from actual performances using surviving documentation, thus no attempt has been made to differentiate the status of the programs.
Of particular interest in this subseries are
Only a small amount of material, consisting of a catalog, correspondence, notes, and royalty statements, represents Swanson's activities in the field of sound recording, 1933-1974.
Several commercial recordings by Swanson are among the Audio Discs included in Series VII.
Includes correspondence, scripts (many annotated), call sheets, shooting schedules, contracts and other legal documents, financial information, photographs, music, publicity, clippings, and notes relating to Miss Swanson's appearances or proposed appearances on television, 1944-1981.
The papers have been kept in their original categories of Appearances (1944-1981), Mexican Television (1950-1954), and Proposed Television (1949-1979). Files for appearances and proposed television are arranged chronologically while the Mexican Television files are arranged topically.
The files concerning individual shows, almost 8 boxes, make up the largest part of this subseries. Included are documentation of the
Other files in this subseries concern television shorts shot in Mexico and proposed ideas or appearances.
Correspondents include Steve Allen, Richard Chamberlain, Dick Clark, Ralph Edwards, Eva Gabor, Hedda Hopper, Gypsy Rose Lee, Edward R. Murrow, Marshall Neilan, Zasu Pitts, and Aaron Spelling.
Includes correspondence, scripts (many annotated), contracts, financial information, photographs, music (both manuscripts and sheet music), playbills, programs, publicity, reviews, schedules, designs (costume, production, and set), and notes which document Miss Swanson's theatrical appearances, 1937-1977.
Files on the seventeen shows, which are arranged chronologically, occupy about eighteen boxes of this subseries. The remaining two boxes contain correspondence and scripts for proposed theatrical performances, 1937-1976, and a small group of unidentified theatre photographs.
Notable are files on three Broadway productions,
Of special interest are files concerning Miss Swanson's proposed musical version of
Correspondents include Eve Arden, Richard Banks, Vilma Banky, Beverly Bayne, Marcus Blechman, Virginia Bowker, Walter Byron, Ruth Chatterton, Indra Devi, William Dufty, Michelle Farmer, José Ferrer, Ram Gopal, Helen Hayes, Dick Hughes, Danny Kaye, Harold J. Kennedy, Henri de la Falaise, Rod LaRocque, Alan Jay Lerner, Frances Marion, Elsa Maxwell, Marshall Neilan, Mary Pickford, Ted Shawn, Richard Stapley, and Lois Wilson.
Chiefly correspondence and scripts, synopses, and treatments, related to proposed film, radio, television, and theatre projects under consideration by Swanson, ca. [192-]-1982.
These papers have been left as they were found, generally separated into correspondence (arranged chronologically) and scripts (arranged alphabetically by title). Some scripts also included associated correspondence, financial information, and clippings, which have been kept with the appropriate script. Where available, authors and dates have been transcribed in the folder list.
Several scripts date from Swanson's early United Artists days (
Prominent screenwriters whose work is represented in this subseries include Zoë Akins, Jay Presson Allen, Lenore J. Coffee, Delmer Daves, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Frances Marion, Richard Matheson, Preston Sturges, and C. Gardner Sullivan.
Correspondents include Marlene Dietrich, Gertrude Behanna, Francesa Bertina, George Cukor, Evelyn Laye, Jean Dalrymple, Dorothy Farnum, and Don DeFore.
Includes brochures, clippings, copyright information, correspondence, legal documents, membership cards, photographs, and printed and promotional materials from organizations relating to Miss Swanson's career, 1929-1982. These include actors' groups, film and television organizations, libraries, museums, and universities.
Material is arranged alphabetically by the name of the organization, or in a few cases, by film title.
The largest group of files included here center around the later records of
Also included are files containing repository agreements and correspondence concerning Miss Swansons's personal film collection at The Museum of Modern Art (ca. 1944-1967) and George Eastman House (1967-1982).
The actors' organization files, especially the Screen Actor's Guild, contain some limited financial information, i.e. income, residuals, etc.
Correspondents included in this segment of the collection include Michelle Farmer Amon, Walter Byron, James Card, Richard Griffith, Edith Head, René Hubert, Jacob K. Javits, Joseph P. Kennedy, Edward I. Koch, Henri Langlois, Viola Lawrence, Mervyn LeRoy, Ed Sullivan, Jack Valenti, and Erich von Stroheim.
Under this aegis are included the records of Miss Swanson's various commercial investments and ventures, 1921-1982, which supplemented, and at times substituted for, income derived from her career as an actress. These included cosmetics, fashion, hosiery, an inventions and patents company, investments, merchandising ventures, organic foods, perfume, product endorsements, travel, and writing projects.
This Series is divided as follows: Business Investments, Cosmetics, Fashion, Gloria Swanson Enterprises, Inc., Gloria Swanson Products Corp., Glory B Enterprises, Hosiery, Multiprises, Inc., Perfume, Product Endorsements, Swanson-Dufty Enterprises, Inc., Travel Agent, Writing Projects, and Miscellaneous Business Proposals.
Brochures, correspondence, clippings, financial information, legal documents, and printed materials concerning various companies in which Miss Swanson invested or planned to invest, 1967-1982. Material is arranged alphabetically by company.
Includes brochures, correspondence, contracts, formulae, package designs, photographs, and promotional material relating to Miss Swanson's various commercial ventures involving cosmetics, ca. [192-]-1968. Files are arranged chronologically.
This subseries consists largely of information concerning her Essence of Nature Cosmetics line, 1965-1968, which was manufactured from organic, natural ingredients by Vegetable Products Company, Inc.
Other files represent various proposed investments or projects with Marion Davies, Bebe Daniels, the Quaker Oats Company, Dalty & Associates, and Lena Horne Cosmetics.
Correspondents include Richard Albino (Approved Advertising & Art), Leon T. Dalty, Jack Mitchell, Gabriel Reeder (Vegetable Products Company, Inc.), Charles Revson, Carl Rosen (Puritan Fashions Corp.), and R. Lawrence Siegel.
Clippings, contracts, correspondence, dress labels, fashion sketches, financial information, maps, photographs, promotional materials, and tour schedules evidence Miss Swanson's business activities in the commercial fashion world, ca. 1940-1982. Files are arranged chronologically.
Nine boxes contain the records of her long association with Puritan Dress Company (later Puritan Fashions Corp.), ca. 1951-1982 (bulk 1951-1961). She promoted a line of Gloria Swanson "Forever Young" fashions largely through arduous (Swanson called them "Death of a Saleswoman") tours to department stores where she made personal appearances and conducted fashion shows. Her extensive tour files were maintained by year and by city, and usually contain local newspaper clippings, photographs, correspondence with department store owners and personnel, local response, programs, schedules, etc.
Other business ventures included attempted forays into Italian knitwear with Laura Aponte, Sergio Simioni, and Lida di Trepuzzi (Caterina Mazzotta), ca. 1963-1968.
Correspondents include Robert Collin, Mathilde Kimball, Herbert Nelson, Irving Nelson, Arthur Rosen and Carl Rosen (all of Puritan Dress Company), as well as Laura Aponte, Lewis L. Bredin, Gino di Grandi, Lida di Trepuzzi (Caterina Mazzotta), and Sergio Simioni.
Financial and legal records (plus a small amount of correspondence) document Gloria Swanson Enterprises, Inc., a Delaware corporation formed June 2, 1959. Materials are arranged first by form (correspondence, financial records, legal records) and then chronologically.
The initial purpose of the corporation appears to have been as a vehicle for various merchandising ventures. The company seems to have lain dormant from about 1962 until 1967 or 1968 when it began to be used for a variety of projects. These included the exploitation of film copyrights, scripts, and other properties owned by Swanson, as well as her services as performer or for personal appearances. William Dufty was also involved in this venture, and there is information on a number of his projects, such as
A note in the files indicates that the corporation was dissolved, but no date is given. Most likely Swanson-Dufty Enterprises, Ltd., formed in 1977, took its place.
Correspondence, contracts, and stock certificates of a corporation which was to be used in connection with merchandising organic food products, but which apparently was never realized.
Notes, and bank and legal forms, apparently concerning a proposed consolidation of various business activities. Possibly a precursor to Gloria Swanson Enterprises, Inc., formed in 1959.
Includes correspondence, clippings, financial information, photographs, price lists, and promotional material relating to Gloria Swanson Nylons, manufactured by Sheffield Hosiery Mills, Inc., ca. 1961-1962.
The principal correspondent is Leonard J. Solomon, president of Sheffield. Of special note are a letter indicating that samples were sent to the seven Mercury astronauts' wives as a promotional activity, and thank you replies from Trudy Cooper, Annie Glenn, Jo Schirra, and Margie Slayton. A promotional trip to Columbus, OH involved Miss Swanson's attendance as special guest at Ohio State University's homecoming football game against the University of Iowa. The program for this game is included in this subseries.
Includes correspondence, contracts, corporate records and other legal documents, financial information, patents and patent applications, drawings, blueprints, samples, brochures, photographs, and clippings concerning Multiprises, Inc., a company incorporated by Miss Swanson on July 6, 1938, to finance and exploit inventions.
The original alphabetical order of these files has been recreated insofar as possible according to file listings found in a record book dated 1940 (see folder 225.4). The order of materials within the files has not been altered. When old file folders included notes (mostly dates when inventions and projects were abandoned), the annotated portions were retained within the new folders.
The majority of this subseries concerns Swanson's employment of four World War II refugee inventors from Austria and Germany: Leopold Karniol (chemist, plastics expert), Richard Kobler, Anton Kratky (metallurgist), and Leopold Neumann (acoustical engineer). Chief among their successes was the Kratky process of producing hard carbide tools and tips out of cemented carbides. The records of Forged Carbides, Inc. (ca. 1939-1942) reflect the manufacture and practical application of this invention. For memoranda concerning the history of Forged Carbides, see folder 235.19. Karniol's process for the manufacture of plastic buttons was successfully exploited through an agreement with the Lindenhurst Manufacturing Company of New Jersey. There are also substantial files on acoustical inventions of Leopold Neumann, such as recordings for the blind, and dictating machine equipment.
The rest of the records deal with various ideas and inventions, both solicited and unsolicited, from a number of persons, including such inventors as Joseph Ganz and even Miss Swanson herself. Types of ideas and inventions represented include appliances, automobiles, chemicals, clothing, film-related, household objects, industrial processes, implements, machinery, medicines, and musical instruments, to list a few of the categories. There are also a number of war-related inventions, such as airplane devices, bombs, coding machines, guns, and submarine devices.
Persons connected with the firm included John L. Berggren, Virginia Bowker, Iphigenia Engel, William B. Jaffe, Clifford M. Larson, Herbert Luria, Frederick H. MacRobert, George Schlee, Gustave Schirmer, Anne R. Seiler, and Nathan I. Sommers.
There is a slight amount of non-business correspondence addressed to the following: Edna May Cooper, Noel Coward, Henri de la Falaise, Douglas Fairbanks, Ethel Helmsing, René Hubert, Rod LaRocque, Perry Leiber (RKO), Frances Marion, Alex Tiers, Dr. Henri Vodescal, and Leroy P. Ward.
A significant amount of material in these files is in languages other than English, primarily German and French.
Correspondence concerns Miss Swanson's interest in marketing her own perfume or endorsing a particular scent, and various efforts toward this end, 1952-1961.
Includes brochures, correspondence, clippings, legal documents, music, photographs, promotional material, scripts, and story boards documenting Miss Swanson's role as endorser of various commercial products through the media of print, radio and television, 1949-1981. Materials are arranged alphabetically by product or company name.
The preponderance of this material concerns radio and television commercials performed for Aldon Rug Mills, ca. 1958-1960. Of particular interest are the scripts, of which Miss Swanson wrote early drafts, and which center around various of her interests and activities (art, entertaining, hobbies and games, and inventions).
Financial and legal records of Swanson-Dufty Enterprises, Ltd., formerly known as Glory Bee Enterprises, Ltd., a New York corporation formed Feb. 7, 1977. The name was changed March 11, 1977. This corporation appears to have been a successor to Gloria Swanson Enterprises, Inc., engaging in the same types of activities.
Correspondence, clippings, financial information, notes, photographs, and travel information illustrate Swanson's involvement with the Haley Corporation travel bureau (owned by Harold A. Ley, Jr. and Sam Grubb) as a foreign travel representative, ca. 1947-1950.
Friends and business acquaintances such as Pierre A. Bedard, Vaughn Bell, Jack Cohn, William M. Ferris, Jr., René Hubert, and Joseph Schenck corresponded with Swanson in connection with the Haley Corporation's services.
A small group of clippings, photographs, and schedules detail a trip to Bermuda in 1947.
Includes correspondence, manuscripts (holograph and typescript, many with corrections), pre-publication states (setting copy, galleys, proofs), clippings, contracts and other legal documents, financial information, printed material, research materials, photographs, and publicity materials accumulated during the writing and publication of various articles, autobiographical sketches, books, columns, poems, and speeches, ca. 1921-1981. These files are arranged in chronological order of the creation and/or publication of these various writings.
The largest portion of this subseries (10 boxes) is devoted to the preparation, publication and response to Swanson's candid 1980 autobiography,
Other major projects included
The researcher should be aware that earlier writing projects were frequently used in compiling later writing projects, thus multiple copies of writings often appear to be scattered through these files.
Only a slight amount of correspondence with editors, publishers and sources is included. Correspondents include Frank H. Bartholomew, Robert Cato, Ross Claiborne, André Daven, René Hubert, Drew Pearson, William Raney, Rita Rosenkranz, Elaine St. Rogers, Jack Solomon, and Richard Stapley.
A small amount of correspondence, arranged chronologically, concerning various proposals declined or never realized, ca. 1946-1981. Most extensive are papers concerning the restoration of the Hot Wells Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, as a health spa.
This series consists of files on various topics of interest to Swanson, 1923-1983, and is divided into these subseries: Art, Health and Nutrition, Inventions, Political Activities, Psychic and Other Phenomena, Religion, Science and Technology, and Tax Laws.
Consists chiefy of photographs, but clippings, correspondence, and programs also attest to Swanson's talents as an artist and her interest in art and artists, ca. [192-]-1981. The files are arranged alphabetically by topic.
The photographs depict Swanson drawing, painting, and sculpting, mostly during the 1950s and 1960s. Also included are photographs of various of her works, especially her sculptures of such subjects as Lewis L. Bredin, William Dufty, Michelle Farmer Amon, and herself. Also documented are her 1978 exhibit in London, and her design of a stamp cachet for the World Federation of United Nations Associations and the United Nations Postal Administration for a stamp commemorating the Decade for Women (1976-1985).
The only artist represented by substantial correspondence and photographs is Fernando Calderón. A small file of photographs records depictions of Miss Swanson by such artists as Benney, Charles Swanson, Michel A. Werboff, Strandenés, and Geza Kende.
Actual art work by Swanson and others is included in Series VII.
Comprised of correspondence, photographs, organizational records (minutes, by-laws, articles of incorporation), legal documents, and legislation, but chiefly consists of publications collected (clippings, articles, pamphlets, flyers, newsletters, reprints, reports, brochures, catalogs, order forms, price lists) concerning a number of health and nutrition topics, ca. 1950-1983.
The materials making up this subseries, except for records of the various organizations in which Swanson was active, were largely lacking any organization when received by the Ransom Center. Indeed, much of the material collected was loose within boxes with no indication of any original order. The subseries has been arranged alphabetically by person, organization, or topic. Many of these files consist chiefly of articles, clippings, and other publications collected on various topics, all of which relate in some fashion to health and nutrition, but their particular focus concerns the part that proper nutrition through organic foods can play as a preventative or a treatment for cancer and other diseases. Swanson frequently wrote comments in the margins of these publications.
The organizations in which Swanson was active included the Independent Cancer Research Foundation, Inc. (later called the Citizens Research Foundation for the Study of Degenerative Diseases, Inc.), the Committee for Independent Cancer Research, and the Patients' Aid Society, Inc.
Swanson participated as a director periodically between 1953-1981 for the I.C.R.F., a clearinghouse for information on cancer and various treatments. She was a chairman of the C.I.C.R., ca. 1955-1957, a group dedicated to investigating all forms of cancer treatment. About three boxes contain letters from individuals who heard Miss Swanson mention the organization and a specific treatment (Krebiozen) on such shows as
Also prominently represented is Swanson's involvement in food additive legislation introduced by Congressman James J. Delaney. In
Sugar and its various ill effects is also a substantial topic in this subseries, chiefly in the context of William Dufty's book
Only slight information on Miss Swanson's personal diet and data from various medical examinations is included in the Personal files in this subseries. Correspondence with her personal physicians, especially Dr. Henry ("Hal") G. Bieler, is another good source of information regarding Miss Swanson's personal health. Personal health information is also supplemented by folders 404.1-404.7, which covers 1947-1949. Correspondents in this section include Henry G. Bieler, James J. Delaney, James F. Donnelly, Gianni A. Dotto, William Dufty, Allan Jay Friedman, Dr. Andrew C. Ivy, Michio Kushi, Roland V. Libonati, William Coda Martin, Dorothea Seeber, and Strom Thurmond.
Swanson's interest in inventions is evidenced by correspondence with attorneys, drawings, patents and notes for several inventions, 1926-1957. This small group of inventions both predates and antedates her inventions and patents company, Multiprises, Inc. Files are arranged chronologically.
Among her creations included in this subseries are a dustless broom, a cigarette box with matches attached, a pillow doll and a toothbrush with various attachments. Two actual inventions of Miss Swanson's are included in this collection: a cigarette holder designed to fit on a finger, and a jewelled fan housing a mirror and lipstick, which was used in the film
Materials included in this subseries range from a single affidavit of voter registration dated 1923 to a substantial file evidencing support for Ronald Reagan and George Bush, 1980-1983. Included are brochures, campaign materials, clippings, correspondence, pamphlets, photographs, and speeches, 1923-1983. Files are arranged chronologically.
Also documented are her support of Republican candidates in the 1940 (Wendell L. Willkie) and 1944 (Thomas E. Dewey and John W. Bricker) presidential races. Her activities for the Reagan-Bush ticket, 1980-1983, included serving as the New York chairman for Seniors for Reagan-Bush and as honorary chairman of the United Conservative Action Committee. Correspondence from both Reagan and Bush are included, as well as from a number of Republican and conservative organizations concerning fund-raising activities.
Only small amounts of information are included here on such concerns as health and nutrition, and other topics such as the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960, communism, nuclear armament, and the United Nations.
A small collection of correspondence, clippings, photographs, and publications highlight Miss Swanson's interest in the topics of astrology and ESP, ca. 1950-1982. These papers are arranged alphabetically by topic, person, or organization.
Especially prominent is her association with Harold Sherman and ESP Research Associates Foundation, resulting in her participation in the Body/Mind/Spirit Workshop of 1977.
Correspondence, notes, programs, publications and sermons demonstrate Miss Swanson's interest in various aspects of religion, 1951-1983. These are arranged alphabetically by topic, person, or organization.
Most prominent among these papers are those concerning the United Church of Religious Science, including Swanson's involvement in their Scientific Approach to Spiritual Healing Symposium in 1973.
Brochures, correspondence, drawings, and photographs evince Miss Swanson's continuing interest in science and technological applications, ca. 1940s-1975. The files are arranged chronologically.
These include photographs of Miss Swanson's visits with Bell Helicopters in the 1940s-1950s, and to NASA in 1963, where she met Werner von Braun. His drawings used to illustrate their discussion of space travel are included in this subseries. Also recorded is her continuing association with Richard Kobler (one of her Multiprises, Inc. inventors), who later worked for Thomas A. Edison Industries.
Correspondence, clippings, notes, pamphlets, publications, and speeches represent Miss Swanson's concern with various tax laws, 1949-1975. Files are arranged chronologically.
Most of this material concerns her involvement in a protest of unfair tax rates for single persons, a movement spearheaded by Vivien Kellems, ca. 1971-1974. Numerous drafts of Swanson's speech before the House Ways and Means Committee in 1972 are included in this subseries, as is her article for
This series consists of a large group of papers which are either of a biographical or personal nature, ca. [18--]-1983. Among these are address books, appointment books, childhood and family photographs, personal financial records, photographs of friends, guest books, portraits and other personal photographs, pet photographs and data, property records, and travel photographs and papers. These subseries are arranged alphabetically as follows: Address Books and Cards, Appointment Books and Calendars, Awards, Biographical, Celebrations, Childhood, Family, Financial Records, Friends and Associates, Guest Books, Health, Interviews, Memberships, Pets and Animals, Photographs, Property, Sports and Exercise, Staff, Travel, and Miscellaneous.
Consists of various address books, most of which are identified either by date, location, or other designation. A number of these were obviously created for use by Miss Swanson while traveling. Two of the address books apparently belonged to husband William Dufty.
The address cards, which were removed from a large rolodex, are an especially good source of names and addresses, as well as for categories of persons (agents, attorneys, doctors, etc.) or of goods and services used (health foods, millinery, furs, etc.).
Miss Swanson's personal appointment books and calendars, 1943-1979, provide a substantially complete chronology of appointments and events for this period. Items in this subseries are arranged chronologically. For many years there are multiple books, some of which were undoubtedly created and maintained by staff members.
While Swanson and her staff often referred to these books as "diaries," only occasionally are the personal thoughts and comments of Miss Swanson recorded. They appear to have been used rather frequently in connection with tax or legal documentation.
The bound appointment books are arranged chronologically in the boxes. Miscellaneous items which were folded and tucked within the pages of these books have been removed and placed in folders in order to unfold, preserve, and make them readily available for use by researchers. Included are correspondence, notes, business cards, clippings, photographs, invitations, itineraries, schedules, and receipts. These items are now annotated with pencilled dates in brackets to indicate where they were located within the books. Those not marked in this manner were found either at the front or back of the book, or the item was already dated appropriately.
A small group of award certificates, correspondence, and photographs of award ceremonies, ca. 1925-[198-].
Information regarding Miss Swanson's Academy Award nominations (for
A small group of miscellaneous biographical articles, sketches, reminiscences, and
Some of these biographies were obviously kept in multiple copies to distribute for various purposes. Of special interest in this group is DeWitt Bodeen's article on Gloria Swanson (which appeared in
Primarily photographs of celebrations of birthdays, Christmas, and other holidays, but also birthday lists and Christmas gift lists, ca. [192-]-1982.
The earliest item in this subseries is a Christmas card sent out by "Gloria and Henry" (her then husband the Marquis Henri de la Falaise), probably from the mid or late 1920s. Birthday celebrations date mostly from Swanson's later years, ca. 1974-1982, especially that for her 75th birthday at the Cinémathèque Française.
Birthday and various holiday cards received by Miss Swanson will be found in Series I., Correspondence, filed alphabetically under the name of the sender.
Consists of childhood writing samples, two school texts, a high school graduation program, clippings, and post cards, but predominately photographs which reveal the life of young "Glory" Swanson growing up in Chicago, Key West, and Puerto Rico, 1899-1915. Materials are arranged by format, then chronologically.
Especially prominent among the photographs, which depict Swanson from infancy to her teen years, are a large group of photographs taken during the Swanson family tenure in Puerto Rico, ca. 1910-1911. These include pictures of Swanson with childhood friends, schoolmates, and family in a variety of activities and locales.
A foreshadowing of her cinematic interests appears in her school textbook
Consists primarily of photographs (though there are some clippings, a report card, a birth certificate, and childrens' art and school work) of Swanson's ancestors, other family members, and descendants, ca. [18--]-1982. Files are divided into these three categories, (ancestors, other family members, and descendants) and divided alphabetically by name within these groups.
While there are a number of photographs of Swanson's parents Joseph and Adelaide, only her maternal grandparents, the Klanowsky family, are represented in the collection. Few other photographs of ancestors are included here, most of them unidentified.
The bulk of this subseries consists of photographs of Swanson's children (Gloria Daly, Joseph Patrick Swanson, and Michelle Farmer Amon) and their families. Insofar as possible, photographs are arranged in approximate chronological order. A number of early photographs of the children were taken by well known photographers, such as Maurice Goldberg, Russell Ball, John Miehle, Marcus Blechman, John Engstead, and G. L. Manuel Frères.
Includes all manner of personal financial data (accounts, accounts payable, advances, bank statements, bills, cancelled checks, cash books, cash receipts and disbursements, checkbooks, correspondence, disbursement vouchers, expenses, income, insurance policies and correspondence, ledgers, loan papers, payroll, petty cash, receipts, statements, tax returns and correspondence, trial balances) for the period 1919-1983, the bulk of which dates from ca. 1950-1979. Materials are arranged chronologically by year (with insurance policies filed by inception date, tax forms filed by tax year, tax correspondence filed by chronological years).
Although the amount of material varies from year to year, a wealth of detail concerning most facets of Swanson's life is available in this subseries. Records for the period 1950-1979 are particularly complete and consistent, due to the methodical practices of staff members Gladys Griffth (ca. 1950-1972) and Beatrice Siegel (ca. 1972-1979). Personal and business finances had a tendency to overlap occasionally, and for that reason, business financial records elsewhere in this collection (United Artists, Multiprises, Inc., Gloria Swanson Enterprises, Inc., Swanson-Dufty Enterprises, Inc., etc.) should also be consulted in order to obtain the fullest view of Swanson's financial affairs. A special example of this tendency is illustrated by a number of files dated ca. 1927-1928 which involve the production of
Financial information included generally tends to inform areas of Swanson's life which are otherwise poorly documented elsewhere in the collection. For example, files of bills included in 1919 and 1920 evidently concern the Somborn honeymoon. Insurance policies and correspondence complement other information within the collection concerning the purchase and ownership of artwork, automobiles, furs, jewelry, and real estate. For later years, information in this subseries regarding travel expenses often supplements the Travel subseries. Information in income files and income tax files are sometimes the only documentation of salary received for film, radio, theatre, and television appearances.
A number of income tax disputes, from the 1920s to the 1970s, are evident in these papers. Correspondence concerning taxes often contains references to multiple years, which may make it necessary to look through several years' worth of tax correspondence to determine the final disposition. Further information on taxes is also found in accountants' files in this subseries.
Information in Series I. Correspondence, supplies further financial detail: see especially files for Equitable Investment Corporation (1934-1942), Insurance (1950-1982), and correspondence with accountants (Ernest du Belier, Noah Gallop & Company, David R. Shelton) and lawyers (R. Lawrence Siegel). Series IV. Other Interests, also contains a subseries concerning Swanson's protest of single tax rates during the 1970s.
Consists of a number of photographs of close friends and famous associates. Included here are photographs of all her husbands and a number of persons who were important in her life. Though most of the photographs are undated, they range from the 1910s through the 1980s. The photographs are arranged in an alphabetical sequence.
Many of the photographs were most likely used for publicity in connection with a number of endeavors, though they could not be attributed to particular activities with any degree of certainty.
This subseries has been extensively indexed in order to provide references to individuals in the photographs as well as access to work by noted photographers.
Two guest books, one of which appears to have been for a specific, unidentified occasion in 1977, the other which seems to have been used over a range of years, ca. 1971-1983.
This subseries contains a limited amount of correspondence, information on diets, medical literature, photographs, and recipes, concerning Miss Swanson's personal health.
Complementary information for later years is found in Series IV. Health and Nutrition in her Personal files (folder 315.7).
A small group of transcripts of interviews, the most notable of which are those conducted by Kevin Brownlow for his documentary series
Most of these were probably separated at some point from accompanying correspondence, which is possibly contained in Series I. Correspondence.
A small group of correspondence and membership cards concerning memberships in a variety of private organizations.
This subseries contains mostly photographs of Miss Swanson's various dogs and cats, but also correspondence, pedigrees, pet cemetery plot deeds, and veterinary bills and records.
Also included is an article written from the viewpoint of her dachschund, Max, complete with photographs by Roloff Beny. Other photographers represented in this subseries include Russell Ball and Jack Mitchell.
This subseries is comprised of photographs of Miss Swanson, subdivided into formal portraits, miscellaneous photographs, and unidentified photographs. Portraits and miscellaneous photographs are arranged in rough chronological order insofar as possible. Unidentified photographs are divided into categories of people, places, sculptures, and statutes.
Many of the portraits were most likely used for publicity in connection with a number of endeavors, though they could not be attributed to particular activities with any degree of certainty.
The work of a number of notable photographers, including Karl Struss, Edward Steichen, Ernest A. Bachrach, Russell Ball, Marcus Blechman, George Hurrell, Philippe Halsman, and Stig Svedfelt, is included in the portraits. Names of identified photographers have been included in the index.
The Miscellaneous photographs are generally more candid shots of Swanson and other people, with circumstances and persons unidentified. Also included are nine folders of photographs of unidentified people, places and things
Consists of papers relating to the purchase and ownership of real estate and personal properties, which have been arranged into the following categories: Apartments, Homes and Real Estate (1925-1983), Automobiles ([191-]-1980), Furs (1950-1972), Jewelry (1934-1968), and Miscellaneous (1930-1979).
Formats among these papers include correspondence, clippings, financial and legal documents, inventories, lists, appraisals, photographs, post cards, blueprints, drawings, decorating samples, bills, receipts, product brochures and warranties, leases, address books, business cards, insurance records, automobile licenses, and registrations.
Though information is included on Miss Swanson's homes in Beverly Hills, CA, Croton-on-Hudson, NY, Colares, Portugal, and Palm Springs, CA, the most complete records exist for her apartment at 920 Fifth Avenue, New York City, which she maintained from 1941-1983.
The only substantial documentation existing for personal vehicles concerns two automobiles owned later in her life, a 1957 Rolls Royce and a 1970 Toyota Mark II. There are photographs of Miss Swanson in earlier vintage automobiles, but no evidence in this subseries confirms or denies her ownership of these cars.
Correspondence on furs (1950-1972), and correspondence, lists, photographs, and drawings of jewelry (1922-1968) amount to only six folders.
The Miscellaneous files include lists of old papers and valuables kept in office safes (1972-1976) and safety deposit boxes (1930-1979).
Information included in this subseries can be supplemented by that found in the Financial Records subseries, especially for the Palm Springs, CA, and Colares, Portugal, houses. Further details on automobiles, jewelry, and furs exist in the insurance policy and correspondence files found in the Financial Records subseries. Series VI. (After Death) includes auction catalogs which may be helpful in determining the final disposition of a number of personal items.
Consists of a group of photographs of Miss Swanson engaged in various athletic activities, subdivided into cycling (1980s), fishing (1950s-1960s), golfing (1920s), horseback riding (1920s), tennis (1920s-1930s), and yoga (1950s).
Correspondence, clippings, payroll forms, and information concerning maids, chauffeurs and other "help," as well as dealings with employment services. Also included is a file of Swanson's detailed instructions for various staff members outlining her specific wishes for cleaning, cooking, car care, and other staff duties.
Travel files are arranged chronologically by decade, and by format within decades: bills, clippings, correspondence, customs bills, expenses, miscellaneous (usually post cards, travel brochures, maps, programs of events, etc.), passports, photographs, receipts, and schedules. These categories have been identified where possible by country and/or specific dates.
This subseries primarily documents foreign travel (Cuba, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Monte Carlo, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland) for both business and pleasure, though some domestic travel is also represented. Numerous foreign language materials are present. Materials from the 1950s are especially prevalent.
Of special interest are Swanson's 1925 passport, identifying her as the new Marquise de la Falaise returning to America from the filming of
Further documentation of travel expenses, especially for the 1970s, may be found in the Financial Records subseries.
Correspondents included in this subseries are Robert Amon, Laura Aponte, Frank H. Bartholomew, Henry G. Bieler, Earl Blackwell, Henri Coanda, Emile Drain, Michael Farmer, Sir Lew Grade, Virginia Graham, Gino di Grandi, Evelyn Laye, Luigi Luraschi, Arlette Marchal, Robert Morley, and Albert Parker.
Here are included a variety of miscellaneous personal papers such as Miss Swanson's bookplate design, business and calling cards saved or collected, cartoons and other writings saved, and unused post cards and stationery. Her "Source of Supply" files kept for the period 1953-1957 document miscellaneous personal purchases.
(see realia, rl)
This very brief series consists of clippings, correspondence, auction catalogs, and photographs collected after the death of Miss Swanson, 1983-1988, which provide somewhat of a coda to her life.
Obituaries and a small selection of letters of condolence to Miss Swanson's daughters (including a letter from then President Ronald Reagan), are contained in two folders.
The remainder of this subseries is made up of auction catalogs, which detail several sales of furnishings, jewelry, fashions, memorabilia, and other personal effects. Sale lists, press releases, and clippings document the public interest in these auctions and their financial success.
The materials in this series were separate from other collection materials primarily due to their formats which necessitated alternative storage. For items which were separated during processing of the collection, separation sheets indicate the original location of the material. Subseries include Art Work, Audio Recordings, Bound Volumes, Clippings, Film, Music, Photographs and Equipment, Posters, Realia, and Scrapbooks. Extensive cross references have been made in the folder list in order to link these items intellectually with the materials in the preceding Series.
A group of mixed art work (caricatures, cartoons, charcoal drawings, mixed media, oils, pastels, prints, and sketches) by Swanson, her family members, her friends and acquaintances, her fans, and others. Art work is housed in folders designated with "A" numbers.
The subseries has been divided as Works by Swanson (7 items), Depictions of Swanson (70 items), Works collected by Swanson (22 items), and Unidentified (5 items).
Of special interest are Swanson's charcoal drawing of a duck (while a young student at the Chicago Art Institute), her stamp cachet design for the United Nations, work by talented acquaintances (Lewis L. Bredin, René Hubert, Stig Svedfelt), film and theatre related cartoons (by John Decker, Frueh, and McKevin McIvey), drawings depicting Swanson sent to her by fans, and a few items by artist relatives Charles and Jonathan Swanson.
Three items (described in the Related Materials List) were transferred to the Ransom Center Art Collection in order that they might be stored properly.
Included are a variety of recordings, tending to move chronologically according to the availability of technology, i.e., from discs, to reel-to-reel tape, and finally to cassette recordings. The recordings described in this inventory have not been played due to preservation considerations, and thus the descriptions were derived using only existing labelling. Until preservation copies of original tapes are made, these recordings are not available for patron use.
Consists of numerous cassette tapes, both commercially and non-commercially produced, many of which are recordings of radio and television appearances, and some theatre rehearsals. The bulk of these tapes, however, reflect her interests in health and nutrition, music, politics, psychic phenomena, and religion. The arrangement is a loose one, roughly reflecting these areas noted, plus a group of tapes the exact nature of which could not be determined by labelling.
Both commercial and original disc recordings, most of which document some phase of Swanson's career, though some items appear to be purely personal.
Included are recordings of songs from Swanson's films ("Love Your Spell Is Everywhere" and "Ich Liebe Dich, My Dear"), as well as transcriptions of a number of radio (
Discs are arranged first by size (7", 10", 12", and 16"), then alphabetically by title. Items are housed in separate sleeves, each of which has a "D" number for retrieval.
Assorted reels of audio tape, most of which are recordings of appearances on radio and television, or of theatrical performances or rehearsals. There are also a number of miscellaneous tapes which reflect other projects and interests, such as health, nutrition, and religion. Also included are grouped unidentified or blank tapes. These items are loosely arranged in these categories.
Consists of 17 reels of wire tape which contain Miss Swanson's autobiographical notes. Transcripts of numbered tapes I-XV were used during the writing of
Primarily personal financial ledgers, but also includes ledgers for a number of business concerns (Gloria Swanson Enterprises, Inc., Multiprises, Inc., Swanson-Dufty Enterprises, Inc., Swanson Producing Corp., and Gloria Swanson Productions, Inc.). One volume consists of the legal records of Swanson-Dufty Enterprises, Inc. Volumes are shelved and retrieved by "B" numbers given to each volume.
Consists of newspaper and magazine clippings of articles about Miss Swanson. Most of these originated from clipping services, but some were obviously sent by friends or collected by Miss Swanson herself. These clippings were found loose and not in any particular order. It seems to have been Miss Swanson's practice to have scrapbooks compiled from the 1920s through the 1950s, though later in life this practice seems to have fallen by the wayside.
The loose clippings have been arranged chronologically by day 1919 through Feb. 1972. They are sorted only by month thereafter. There are also 6 boxes of complete magazines which contain Swanson articles. For these, cross reference sheets have been completed and filed in the loose clippings in order to provide references to these articles.
Also included are a group of miscellaneous clippings and magazines which do not refer to Swanson, but reflect information which was undoubtedly of interest to her. These are also arranged chronologically, except for a group of film industry related items.
The clippings and magazines are international in scope, with numerous foreign languages represented.
A rather miscellaneous assortment of film (8, 16, and 35 mm., as well as various sizes of videotape) represents various aspects of Swanson's work and life. Material has been arranged by type of film and size, then alphabetically as labelled. There are three designations for storage and retrieval of film: FE (film reels in envelopes), FR (film reels in cans), FT (videotapes).
Most of Miss Swanson's film holdings were transferred to George Eastman House in 1967. For further information on those materials, see folders 201.1-201.8.
The film described in this inventory has not been viewed due to preservation considerations, and thus has been described using only existing labelling. Until preservation copies of original film are made, these items are not available for patron use.
Some television appearances (
Footage listed as
The large group of personal home movies (most date from the 1940s) involves family, friends, pets, and travel. Among those participating are Michelle Farmer Amon, Robert Anderson, Gloria Daly, William Dufty, Adelaide Woodruff, and Brooke Young. Roddy McDowall apparently also gave Miss Swanson a number of videotapes as gifts during the 1980s.
Exhibit Material described in the Related Materials List includes eight video tapes which were created or dubbed from film materials in the collection for a 1984 Ransom Center exhibit,
Consists mostly of sheet music (some of which is annotated), though some original music manuscripts are included. Career-related music is generally filed with the film, television show, or theatrical production involved, although cross references have been made from these materials to the Music folder list. The rest of the music in this subseries tends to consist of popular songs and shows of personal interest, or the music of friends and acquaintances.
The music is arranged alphabetically by song title. Sheet music which has been annotated is marked by an "…" at the end of the title. Titles with no further description denote sheet music; fuller descriptions have been provided only for music manuscript material. Selected composers and lyricists, such as Edmund Goulding, Robert Russel Holmes, Joan Hopkins, Dickson Hughes, Marshall Neilan, Dorothy Parker, and Mary Margaret Vinmont are included in the index.
For a discussion of Swanson's interest in music and its relationship to her career, see the following article:
Two of these photograph albums probably belonged to Swanson's mother, Adelaide Woodruff. One dates from about 1920 when she was married to Matthew Burns, the other from about 1929. The latter album contains travel photographs, including a visit to Swanson's home at 905 Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills. The other photograph albums are baby books of Guy Pierre Amon (daughter Michelle Farmer Amon's first child), and a small album of Swanson's children and grandchildren.
Miscellaneous contact sheets taken by three photographers (William Claxton, Jack Mitchell, and Ellen Graham) of Miss Swanson engaged in numerous activities. One of the items is obviously from the 1930s and includes photographs of Herbert Marshall. Another group dates from the 1950s and include Miss Swanson going about art, business, charitable, fashion, and health activities. Other fashion photographs, probably from the 1950s, include Miss Swanson's grandson Guy Pierre Amon. The final group of contact sheets are publicity shots for William Dufty's book
A small collection of Swanson portraits and family photographs which were still in frames. Most of these have been removed from their frames for conservation reasons, with the frames now stored separately.
A series of twenty-six glass slides, possibly used to illustrate Swanson's career during a slide show or personal appearance. A number of her films are represented, some by images which do not duplicate the stills elsewhere in this collection.
Primarily nitrate negatives of the Swanson family while living in Puerto Rico, ca. 1910-1912. For 131 of the negatives, prints are located in folders 349.6-350.4. There are no prints of the other 180 negatives included here. Also included are a small group of negatives which have not been matched to prints in the rest of the collection, most of which seem to date from the 1970s and 1980s.
Included are twenty-eight negative rolls, six positive rolls, two film cartridges and one filmstrip. The negative roll canisters are by and large unlabelled. The few which are labelled record: "Little Gloria, Bee, Virginia," "Bart and Puppies," "Rancho Santa Fe," and "Walkers San Ysidro"
The six positive print rolls are of a 1939 yacht trip, and appear to be duplicates of photographs in the Travel subseries.
The one filmstrip included is
Consists primarily of color 2"×2" travel slides. The slides were originally in slide mailer boxes, some labelled and postmarked, some which had postmarks only, a couple without postmarks, and one batch of loose slides. These are now arranged labelled items first (by postmark dates), postmarked items next (by postmark dates), nd, and loose. A number appear to be duplicates of travel photographs in the Travel subseries. The slide mailer boxes also occasionally show different recipients of the processed slides and may provide clues to origins or associations of these pictures.
Mostly travel or family scenes are depicted by these color stereo slides which were made with a Realist stereo camera. Most of the slides are individually labelled, and have been arranged alphabetically by these labels.
One Stereo Realist slide viewer.
A small group of posters (16 posters, 21 duplicates) most of which are career-related in some fashion. Posters are housed in folders which are retrieved by "P" numbers.
Most notable in this subseries are posters for Swanson's films
A small group of artifacts, some of which are career-related: promotional items from
The scrapbooks are composed chiefly of clippings, but also include scattered cards, correspondence, fan letters, fan scrapbooks, flyers, invitations, intineraries, magazines, pamphlets, photographs, post cards, programs, promotional material, publicity, reviews, schedules, screening passes, stills, and telegrams which concern Swanson's career and various activities. Six of the scrapbooks (numbers 1, 2, 12, 13, 23, and 31) are also available on microfilm.
The scrapbooks span ca. 1917-1981, although they bulk largest in the 1920s and 1950s, and help document Swanson's film (especially
Other career activities are also represented, such as film festivals, the 1950 Academy Awards, her writing projects (United Press articles and
The scrapbooks contain clippings from newspapers and magazines around the world in a number of languages: Chinese, Danish, French, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.
For fuller press coverage of Swanson's activities, 1967-1983, see the Clippings subseries.
(ms. at end of title indicates manuscript notations, transcriptions, etc.)
(see folder 93.16)
The following index includes references to authors of correspondence, titles of works, subjects [folder number is followed by "(s)"], photographs [folder number is followed by "(p)"], and photographers [folder number is followed by "(ph)"].
(Compiled from: Quirk, Lawrence J.
(Compiled from: Quirk, Lawrence J.
(Compiled from: Quirk, Lawrence J.