Scope and Contents
The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, contracts, business files from various media projects, advertising accounts from Town and Country, and photographs.
The correspondence includes outgoing letters (1935-1969) filed chronologically, and incoming letters organized alphabetically by last name or organization title. The correspondence is largely business related and includes letters between Neebe and co-authors Craig and Black.
The manuscripts series is organized alphabetically by title of work and entries often include drafts, outlines and notes, revisions, related program and/or promotional material, and research files. Manuscripts include plays, musicals, and story length projects.
The Broadway productions series contains files on the Apple Cart Company (1955-1961) and the Friendly Persuasion Company (1955-1956). Material includes bulletins to partners, partnership agreements, promotional material, operational statements, and work sheets.
The media project series contains advertising account files for Neebe's work at Town and Country magazine. Files include memoranda, surveys, and individual account files with correspondence and proposals.
There are also files containing contracts and other legal agreements, corresponding reports, publicity tests and other legal documents regarding Neebe's advertising work and plays that he produced.
Also available are photographs of stage productions, files on the Tarzan comic strip, and radio and TV advertising files that include proposals, correspondence, cost estimates, and promotional material.
Dates
- 1920-1970
Creator
- Neebe, J. H. (Joseph H.) (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish collection materials must be submitted to Special Collections and University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.
Biographical / Historical
Joseph Henry Neebe (1888-1970) was an advertising executive, playwright, and Broadway producer. In 1956, after thirty years of service, he retired as vice-president and director of Campbell-Ewald Company, an advertising agency. Thereafter he worked as a special advertising representative for Town and Country magazine.
Among his projects were the comic strip serialization of Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes and the creation of such radio programs as "Chevrolet Chronicles," and "Cheers from the Camps."
Neebe's plays, which were mostly comedies, date from 1910. He adapted various European works and collaborated with Thomas E. H. Black and Walter Craig on a number of productions. Among his more than twenty plays, adaptations, and collaborations are: Achilles Heel, Cleopatra's Bath, Cocktail, The Father-in-Law, First Night, Lieutentant Comma, A Lucky Son of a Bishop, and Who's Whoose (sic), a late musical co-authored by Walter Craig. In 1956 Neebe and Charles Adams produced G. B. Shaw's "The Apple Cart" on Broadway. Neebe died in 1970 at the age of eighty-two.
Extent
3 linear feet (2 containers) : 2 record storage boxes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Joseph Henry Neebe (1888-1970) was an advertising executive, playwright, and Broadway producer. The collection (1920-1970) contains correspondence, manuscripts, contracts, business files from various media projects, advertising and theatre production files, and photographs.
Arrangement
Collection is organized into the following series: Correspondence, Manuscripts, Broadway Productions, Media Projects, Miscellaneous, Photographs and Books.
Material within this collection is minimally arranged. Any arrangement is either derived from the records' creators or custodians or from staff at the time of initial processing. It may be necessary to look in multiple places for the same types of materials.
Other Finding Aids
Paper finding aid with additional information is available in Special Collections & University Archives.
Processing Information
Collection processed by staff, 1972; and Tanya Parlet, 2012.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
This collection received a basic level of processing including minimal organization and rehousing.
Description information is drawn in part from information supplied with the collection and initial surveys of the contents.
- Advertising Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Advertising -- United States -- History -- 20th century Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Advertising executives -- United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Broadway Theatre (Organization : New York, N.Y.) Subject Source: Lcnaf
- Campbell-Ewald Company
- Comic books, strips, etc. -- United States -- Authorship Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Correspondence Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Dramatists, American -- 20th century Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Legal documents Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Manuscripts for publication Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Neebe, J. H. (Joseph H.)
- Photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Playwriting Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Tarzan (Fictitious character) -- Comic books, strips, etc Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Theater -- United States -- History -- 20th century Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Theatrical producers and directors -- United States Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Guide to the Joseph Henry Neebe Papers
- Status
- Revise Description
- Author
- Tanya Parlet.
- Date
- 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English
- Sponsor
- Funding for production of this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
Repository Details
Part of the University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives Repository
