Scope and arrangement
The Victor Moore papers, dating from 1864 to 1958, offer comprehensive coverage of the actor's stage and film career from 1894 onward, primarily through scrapbooks and photographs. They also hold letters, contracts, writings, awards, diaries, scripts, family papers, and drawings.
The bulk of the collection consists of scrapbooks containing programs and clippings dating from 1894 to 1953. There are also two folders of loose programs. Most of the scrapbooks document multiple plays, musicals, or films, but some are devoted to one to three projects only; these are named in the container list. They include Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway, Hold Everything, Of Thee I Sing, It Happened on Fifth Avenue, Louisiana Purchase, and On Borrowed Time.
Loose photographs and photograph albums also comprise a significant portion of the collection. They date from the late 1800s to the early 1950s, and primarily contain stage production shots, film stills, and head shots. Images of Moore with friends and at social events are also present, and the earliest portions (1800s – circa 1910) contain pictures of his family.
The photographic coverage of Moore's stage and film career is voluminous. It includes his early theater work, the vaudeville years with Emma Littlefield, countless silent and sound films, and shots from Broadway productions up to On Borrowed Time, one of his final stage appearances. Many of the loose photographs, particularly from earlier years, have notes on the back identifying the character or production. Many of the film stills feature Moore with his co-stars, as do some of the photographs of Moore with friends and colleagues. Co-stars and colleagues pictured include Mae West, Bob Hope, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, William Gaxton, George McManus, and Edward G. Robinson.
Most of the photographs are arranged chronologically, but several sets of photographs or albums are devoted to single topics. These include an album of RKO Pictures publicity stills; prints autographed by colleagues of Moore's such as Will Rogers, Ethel Merman, the comedic duo Olsen and Johnson, and the singer Cliff Edwards; a skit, Sleepy Steve, performed by Moore and Emma Littlefield; the musical Oh Kay!; and a Treasury Department war bonds event at which Moore performed.
The letters to Moore consist mostly of fan letters, thank-you notes, and a small amount of business correspondence. Letters are from Paramount Pictures; friends and colleagues such as Victor Herbert; and political figures including Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Wagner, and J. Edgar Hoover. They also hold correspondence with and marriage records of Moore's parents, Orville and Sarah, and include Orville Moore's Union army discharge records of 1864 and 1865.
Moore's contracts for stage and film engagements cover the bulk of his career from 1900. His writings include diaries, school essays, and skits he wrote for vaudeville. The writings also hold a few scripts for plays or musicals in which Moore appeared, or which were meant for him. These include Mr. Manhattan, a musical comedy written by Jerome Lawrence and Val Burton for Moore, William Gaxton, and Ethel Merman. The drawings and caricatures of Moore are by unknown artists.
Most of the collection components were assigned classmarks before final processing. These classmarks appear in notes within the container list.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged by format.