urn:taro:utexas.cah.01311 A Guide to the Bill Boyd Papers, 1930-1966 Original EAD encoding by Emily Rapoport according to TARO 2 EAD 2002 Editing Instructions. September 2009 Finding aid written in English. November 2009 Corrected formatting, subjects, and dates by Laurel Rozema. Descriptive Summary Boyd, Bill, 1910-1977. Bill Boyd Papers 1930-1966 Materials are written in English. 4 ft. Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin This collection contains the personal archives of Bill Boyd (1913-1977) the Cowboy Rambler, Texas radio and film personality. Biographical Note

Bill Boyd was born September 29, 1913, and grew up on a ranch in Fannin County, Texas. He began his radio career as a teenager at radio station WRR in Dallas, Texas, performing as a Lone Singing Cowboy and His Guitar, until he formed a band, Bill Boyd and His Cowboy Ramblers. The group performed a very popular live program for the station and made frequent personal appearances at dances, concerts, and fairs throughout Texas.

In 1934, Boyd contracted to record on RCA's Bluebird label and later on the more prestigious Victor label. He eventually made over 300 records for RCA alone. He published hundreds of songs,usually with the M.M. Cole Publishing Company. Collaborators included Leon Payne and Bill Nettles.

Boyd's popularity as a singer led to the contract with Producers Recording Corporation for thirty-six films, of which only six were produced before the advent of World War II. Casts in these B Westerns included Charlie King, Kermit Maynard, Glenn Strange, and Eddie Dean.

Bill Boyd enjoyed the height of his popularity in the 1940's. When television became popular and live radio performances were eliminated, Boyd disbanded the Cowboy Ramblers and worked as a popular disc jockey on WRR, KTER and KSKY. A stroke ended his radio career, which had spanned forty-four years, from 1932 until 1976. Boyd died in 1977 in Dallas.

 Scope and Contents

This collection contains the personal archives of Bill Boyd (1913-1977) the Cowboy Rambler, Texas radio and film personality. Most material in the collection covers Boyd's most successful years from about 1940 until the end of the 1950s. Materials include business and professional correspondence, publicity material, legal and financial documents, scrapbook material, sheet music trade journals, and song books. The collection also includes numerous newspaper clippings and photographs as well as handbills, broadsides, and posters. The arrangement of the Bill Boyd Papers as established by Mr. Boyd has, for the most part, been retained. Some folder titles have been changed or clarified for the benefit of the researchers.

Boyd's classified files comprise the largest group of materials. They include correspondence with his musical collaborators as well as with his publisher, M. M. Cole, and his record producer, RCA. Sheet music usually appears with materials related to the co-writer but miscellaneous scores can be found with Recording material and with Song books, sheet music, and scores. Boyd's files also contain his legal records, including royalty agreements and receipts, and Library of Congress copyrights.

The collection includes about six hundred lead sheets, or lyrics without music, as well as some miscellaneous correspondence regarding Boyd's guitar school, and a radio show script. The financial records document Boyd's involvement in various business enterprises as well as his more mundane household expenditures and travel expenses.

Boyd's music collection consists of song books and sheet music published by other artists between 1930 and 1960. Boyd's own published music is included in his classified files, with Song books, sheet music, and scores. Most of the scrapbook material includes loose material from Boyd's scrapbooks as well as miscellaneous memorabilia. A scrapbook contains newsclippings documenting Boyd's wartime efforts in bond sales.

The collection contains numerous photographs, mostly 8 X 10 black and white movie stills as well as a few snapshots and publicity photos. A few photos are attached to dummy copies of Boyd's fan magazine. A large blown-up photograph of Boyd on posterboard as well as an autographed photograph of Boyd's friend, William Hopalong Cassidy Boyd, are located in 3S158.

Other materials in the collection include broadsides, posters, press books, and an architectural rendering of Boyd's Dallas home. Various artifacts such as a cloth pennant embroidered by a fan and Boyd rubber stamp and metal printing plates are also present in the collection.

 Access Restrictions

Unrestricted access.

 Use Restrictions

Unrestricted use.

 Index Terms Persons Boyd, Bill, 1910-1977 -- Archives. Boyd, Jim, 1914-1993. Grant, Murray Nettles, Bill Payne, Leon Subjects (Organizations) Producers' Releasing Corporation Radio Corporation of America. M.M. Cole Publishing Co. Cowboy Ramblers (Musical group) Subjects Actors and actresses -- United States. Bill Boyd and his Cowboy Ramblers Country music -- To 1951. Western swing (Music) Radio programs -- United States. Western films. Western films -- Movie stills Postcards-Colorado Scrapbooks Sheet music Songs and singing Folk-songs Places Colorado Preferred Citation

Bill Boyd Papers, 1930-1966, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

 Separated Material

Some material has been separated to the artifact collection.

 Processing Information

This collection was processed by Sandra Young, May 1984.

 Detailed Description of the Papers Classified files, 1934-1960, undated 4Zb1 Barton, Lynn, 1947, 1953, undated Bill Boyd Ranch House News, 1943-1948, undated Biographical material, 1943, undated Casares, Fred, 1947-1951, undated M. M. Cole Publishing Co. General, 1942-1960, undated Royalty agreements, 1943 McRight, Leonard, 1948-1950, undated Negatives on brief case material, undated 4Zb2 Nettles, Bill, 1944, undated Payne, Leon, 1941-1942, undated Perkins, Wilson, 1950, undated Personal appearances, 1944-1946 Producers Releasing Corporation play dates, 1942-1943, undated Publicity, 1943-1951, undated RCA Bluebird, 1934-1942, undated RCA publicity- Advertising expense, 1946-1950 RCA record releases, undated RCA recording material, 1939, 1942, undated RCA Victor, 1946-1956 Recording material, undated 4Zb3 Royalties Received, 1940-1963 Slimp, Kenneth, 1957-1958, undated Song Agreements, 1941-1949 4Zb4 Song Agreements, 1941-1949 Song books, sheet music and scores, 1931-1948 Southern Music contracts for publish [sic], 1941-1946 Lead sheets, 1942, undated Radio and guitar school, 1942, undated Lead sheets, undated 4Zb5 Radio and guitar school, undated Financial records, 1943-1966, undated Bettes, T. J. Company, 1948-1955, undated Bills paid, 1944, 1947 Financial records, 1943-1966, undated 4Zb6 Bills paid, 1946-1956 Boyd, Clyde, 1946 Building account, W. L. Boyd, 1950-1951 Expenses, Home (4310 Camden), 1948-1950, undated Expenses, receipts, etc., 1949 House furniture and furnishings; Studio garage, 1947-1955, undated Personall (Tax, insurance, and wage forms, etc.), 1943-1953 4Zb7 Plano Lumber Company, 1964-1966, undated Tex State Company Inc. financial statements, 1948-1949, undated Vickery Lumber Company, 1955-1956, undated Music Collection, 1930-1960, undated 4Zb7 Song books and sheet music, 1930-1960, undated 4Zb8 Song books and sheet music, 1930-1960, undated 4Zb9 Song books and sheet music, 1930-1960, undated Trade journals 1957-1960, undated Scrapbooks 4Zb9 Scrapbook materials, 1942-1943, undated 3S159 Scrapbook 1942-1943, undated Photographs 3S26 Photographs, ca. 1930s-1940s 3S158 Oversize photographs, ca. 1930s-1940s Oversize materials, ca. 1930s-1940s, 3S139 Broadsides, Press books Music scores Architectural drawings Posters