Since 1944 Bob Thomas has written thousands of Hollywood syndicated columns for The Associated Press and has authored (or co-authored) at least thirty books relating to the entertainment industry. The collection consists of materials related to his professional career as a writer and includes manuscripts, research and photographs for books by Thomas as well as Associated Press columns, research files, and a small amount of printed ephemera.

Robert Joseph Thomas was born January 26, 1922 in San Diego, CA. He grew up in Los Angeles where his father, George Thomas, was a publicist who worked for Mary Pickford and a number of movie studios including Warner Bros., MGM, Paramount and Columbia. Thomas attended the University of California, Los Angeles (graduated 1943), where he wrote an entertainment column for the UCLA humor magazine, The Claw, which he edited. He joined The Associated Press in Los Angeles with the hope of becoming a war correspondent; however, he was assigned to a correspondent post in Fresno before being assigned as a Hollywood correspondent in Los Angeles at the age of twenty-two. Prior to his Hollywood post, Thomas signed his news stories Robert J. Thomas, but changed his byline to Bob Thomas with the new assignment. Since 1944, he has written thousands of Hollywood syndicated columns for the Associated Press. At one time his byline appeared in the Associated Press more than any other writer in the new agency's history. He has also written numerous magazine articles about the Hollywood scene.

57 boxes (26.5 linear ft.);3 flat boxes (2.0 linear ft.)

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