The Linkletter Collection documents Linkletter's professional career as a radio and television personality, author, and public figure. The papers date from approximately 1940-2005, with the bulk of documents created in the 1960s and 1970s. The collection consists of subject files, scrapbooks, photographs, and memorabilia, and includes items in several differing media. The collection is divided into five series: Subject Files, Scrapbooks, Photographs, Memorabilia, and Media. The Memorabilia series includes three sub-series: General, Keys to Cities, and Plaques and Certificates. Aside from select recordings and highlight reels, the collection does not include the recordings of Linkletter's House Party radio and television series. Inquiries regarding the recordings of these programs should be addressed to the original production company or distributor: CBS (1952-1969), NBC (1969-1970), Screen Gems Television (1952-1970), or John Guedel Productions.

Arthur Gordon Linkletter was born July 17, 1912, in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan. He was abandoned by his parents immediately after his birth, and adopted as an infant. He moved to Lowell, Massachusetts with his adoptive parents, and then migrated to California at the age of three. Linkletter attended high school in San Diego, where he was a star basketball player and swimmer. He graduated when he was 15, and subsequently spent 3 years drifting from state to state, working as a bus boy, meatpacker, and sailor until he was 18 years old. In 1930 he returned to California to attend San Diego State College. He participated in a wide number of extracurricular and athletic activities while at State, and graduated in 1934 with degrees in English and Psychology.

16.78 Linear Feet

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This collection is open for research.