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Series 10. Catalog File, 1941-1969
2.5 linear feet (6 boxes)
RPA 00826-00831 (boxes 357-362)
Oboler evidently maintained several filing systems for his personal and business records, which he variously identified as Catalog, Ranch, Town, and Fire files. The Catalog File series consists mainly of personal financial records, including household bills, automotive expenses, and travel expenses. However, there are also Catalog File materials on Oboler’s motion picture activities, including proposals and financial papers. The topical range of materials in the Catalog File is typical of many of Oboler’s miscellaneous paper accumulations.
The original arrangement of the Catalog File, roughly alphabetical by subject or correspondent, and chronological within folder, is retained, though this arrangement has certainly been disrupted over time by rehousing and moving of the materials.
Bills paid (ranch), 1941-1969
BOX 357 FOLDER 1 New building, ranch: welding, 1963 November-1965 April
BOX 357 FOLDER 2 New house air conditioner, 1955 August-1963
BOX 357 FOLDER 3 New house auto, 1954 June-1957 January
BOX 357 FOLDER 4 New house bomb shelter, 1957 September-1962 February
BOX 357 FOLDER 5 New house building material, 1954 January-1963 April
BOX 357 FOLDER 6 New house concrete, 1953 December-1968 August
BOX 357 FOLDER 7 New house construction work, 1954 August-1955 February
BOX 357 FOLDER 8 New house electrical, 1955-1967
BOX 357 FOLDER 9-11 New house equipment, 1952-1968
BOX 358 FOLDER 1 New house equipment repair, 1954 February-1963 October
BOX 358 FOLDER 2 New house fire equipment, 1955 February-1959 September
BOX 358 FOLDER 3 New house glass, 1955 March-1960 November
BOX 358 FOLDER 4 New house hardware, 1954 August-1965 October
BOX 358 FOLDER 5 New house, Harry Shaw, 1954 February-1965 October
BOX 358 FOLDER 6 New house interiors, 1954-1965
BOX 358 FOLDER 7 New house Japanese garden, 1963 March-1966 February
BOX 358 FOLDER 8 New house labor, 1954 January-1958 October
BOX 358 FOLDER 9 New house lumber, 1954-1962
BOX 358 FOLDER 10 New house miscellaneous, 1954 October-1967 April
BOX 358 FOLDER 11 New house paint, 1951 June-1959 September
BOX 358 FOLDER 12 New house plumbing, 1941 August-1965 November
BOX 358 FOLDER 13 New house pool, 1954 January-1966 March
BOX 358 FOLDER 14 New house professional service, 1954 January-1956 February
BOX 359 FOLDER 1 New house pumps, 1953 May-1957 October
BOX 359 FOLDER 2 New house rental, 1952 November-1967 July
BOX 359 FOLDER 3 New house roofing, 1954 December-1957 March
BOX 359 FOLDER 4 New house steel, 1954 December-1958 March
BOX 359 FOLDER 5 New house wells, 1958 February-1964 September
BOX 359 FOLDER 6 Ranch equipment, 1966 November-1969 February
BOX 359 FOLDER 7 Ranch garden, 1964 April-1965 May
BOX 359 FOLDER 8 Bills paid, and correspondence concerning the new building (ranch) and Southern California Edison, 1955 October-1962 September
BOX 359 FOLDER 9 Building Department correspondence, new house, 1954 December-1959 June
BOX 359 FOLDER 10 Dam, new building, 1955 August
BOX 359 FOLDER 11 New building invoices, 1955 January-February
BOX 359 FOLDER 12 New building receipts, signs, 1959 July-1966 June
BOX 359 FOLDER 13 Ranch instructions, diagrams, 1956 September
BOX 359 FOLDER 14 Miscellaneous requests concerning the ranch, 1960 May
European trip information and catalogs, 1949-1967
BOX 359 FOLDER 15 Switzerland, 1953 September-December
BOX 359 FOLDER 16 Italy catalogs, 1953 September and undated
BOX 359 FOLDER 17 France, 1953 January-August
BOX 359 FOLDER 18 Miscellaneous, 1949 October-1967 September
BOX 359 FOLDER 19 Norway, 1953 May-1954 June
BOX 359 FOLDER 20 Sweden, 1951-1954 August
Miscellaneous, 1952-1958
BOX 359 FOLDER 21 Auto information and catalogues, 1952 February-1954 March
BOX 359 FOLDER 22 Government, 1953 February-March
BOX 359 FOLDER 23 Index to file, undated
BOX 359 FOLDER 24 Ranch filing, 1954-1958
Motion picture data, 1947-1969
BOX 359 FOLDER 25 Lumia-Wilfred, 1947 June-1959 April
BOX 359 FOLDER 26 Advertising, 1962 June-1965 March
BOX 359 FOLDER 27 Budgets, 1951-1959
BOX 359 FOLDER 28 Motion picture code, 1954 March
BOX 360 FOLDER 1 Copyright search, 1967 March
BOX 360 FOLDER 2 Distribution information, 1952 December-1965 March
BOX 360 FOLDER 3-6 Equipment, 1951-1966
BOX 360 FOLDER 7 Equipment: catagators and snowmobiles, 1965 May-1966 April
BOX 360 FOLDER 8 Europe, 1952 October-1953 August
BOX 360 FOLDER 9 Film stock, 1954 May-1966 January
BOX 360 FOLDER 10 Location possibilities, 1952 April-1967
BOX 360 FOLDER 11 Material file, 1960 June
BOX 360 FOLDER 12 News, 1960 June
BOX 360 FOLDER 13 Possible investors, 1954 May-1965 July
BOX 360 FOLDER 14 Motion picture references, undated
BOX 360 FOLDER 15 Research (catalog file), undated
BOX 360 FOLDER 16 Miscellaneous services, 1952 September-1965
BOX 361 FOLDER 1-2 Sound equipment, 1953 February-1967 April
BOX 361 FOLDER 3 Still shots, undated
BOX 361 FOLDER 4-5 Studios, 1954 May-1969 April
BOX 361 FOLDER 6 Title information, 1950 June-1958 July
BOX 361 FOLDER 7 Canned music, 1965 and undated
BOX 361 FOLDER 8 Film labs, 1953 June-1968 July
BOX 361 FOLDER 9 Kline free properties, 1956 April-1957 September
BOX 362 FOLDER 1 Possible employees, 1952 December-1967 May
BOX 362 FOLDER 2 Publicity, 1967 June
Personal bills paid, 1948-1968
BOX 362 FOLDER 3 Accounting, 1958 August-1960 August
BOX 362 FOLDER 4 American Airlines, 1953 May-1965 August
BOX 362 FOLDER 5 Advertising, 1958 December-1963 November
BOX 362 FOLDER 6-7 African Adventure, 1950, 1948 May-1953 March
BOX 362 FOLDER 8 Employees, 1960, 1960 May-1965 October
BOX 362 FOLDER 9 "1st Pregnant Man," 1964 July-1968 February
BOX 362 FOLDER 10 Kinsey movie, 1958 August-1960 September
BOX 362 FOLDER 11 Lefkowitz & Co., 1954 October-1965 March
BOX 362 FOLDER 12 Legal, 1953 March-1962 December
BOX 362 FOLDER 13 Merrill Granger, 1960 March-1965 May
BOX 362 FOLDER 14 Preview theater, 1960 December-1966 January
BOX 362 FOLDER 15 Trade magazines, 1960 February-1964 April
BOX 362 FOLDER 16 Unions, 1956 March-1966 September
BOX 362 FOLDER 17 Duell, Sloan & Pearce and Decca Records, African Adventure, 1949 February-1957 July
BOX 362 FOLDER 18 Burrelle's, 1953 April-1954 February
BOX 362 FOLDER 19 Capitol Records, 1962 November-1963 October
BOX 362 FOLDER 20 TV brochure, 1957 October-1958 December
Series 11. Sound Recordings, 1938-1987 and undated
Location: IDB 45706-45708; NCPB 08616; RAA 53177-53178, 53180-53190, 53192-53211; RXF 8601-8625, 8627-8640, 8642-8673; RYM 4627-4738, 4820-4821; RYN 2246-2255
The collection contains approximately 107 7-inch and 10-inch Mylar and acetate sound tape reels; 124 analog audiocassettes; 1 12-inch and 2 10-inch aluminum-based lacquer discs; and 1 12-inch vinyl transcription disc. The recordings consist mainly of episodes from Oboler radio series such as Lights Out, Plays for Americans, Everything for the Boys, and Everyman's Theater, but there are also announcements, sound effects, and music from some of his motion pictures, as well as radio compilations, demos, and outtakes.
Also included in the collection but not yet processed are approximately 785 unpublished flexi discs (sound sheets) of various sizes and colors, including Edison Voicewriter and Gray Audograph discs; 20 audiocassettes that are as yet unidentified; and 12 commercial 8-track tape cartridges.
For more information about the sound recordings and their availability for listening purposes, please contact the Recorded Sound Research Center, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 20540-4690; (202) 707-7833; http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsrs/mbrsrs.contact.

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