ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION    

Title
Edward Hastings Ford Collection 

Collection Number
SC 283

OCLC Number
122364344

Creator 
Edward Hastings Ford, 1899-1989

Provenance 
Purchased and acquired in 1980.

Extent,Scope, and Content Note 
This collection consists of TBD linear ft. of material related to Ford's career as a vaudeville comedian and a radio personality including correspondence, transcripts, cartoons, family photographs, and publicity photographs. The contents date from 1906 to 1951. Ford starred on the radio series "Can You Top This?" and was a resident of Southold, Long Island, New York.

Arrangement and Processing Note
Finding aid revised and updated by Kristen J. Nyitray in June 2019.

The collection is arranged in four series.
Series 1: Photographs
Series 2: Scrapbooks
Series 3: Correspondence
Series 4: Pamphlets and Magazines

Language
English 

Restrictions on Access
The collection is open to researchers without restriction.

Rights and Permissions 
Stony Brook University Libraries' consent to access as the physical owner of the collection does not address copyright issues that may affect publication rights. It is the sole responsibility of the user of Special Collections and University Archives materials to investigate the copyright status of any given work and to seek and obtain permission where needed prior to publication.  

Citation 
[Item], [Box], Edward Hastings Ford Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Stony Brook University Libraries.

Historical Note
Edward Hastings Ford (1887-1970) was a vaudeville comedian and creator of "Can You Top This?," a joke-telling radio show that aired on WOR-Mutual from 1940 to 1954. Ford was permanent member of the show's panel of joke-tellers, along with Joe Laurie, Jr., and Harry Hersfield. He added the prefix "Senator" to his name in his 20s to enhance his status as a performer. Ford was famous for his "wit, dolleries and pronouncements of plain Yankee common sense, all reinforced with a dour demeanor." He was a resident of Southold, Long Island, New York. He died in 1970 in Greenport, New York of lung and throat cancer. (Source: Thomas De Long, "Biography Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960,"McFarland & Company, 2006)

Subjects
Ford, Ed, -- 1887-1970.
Comedians.
Vaudeville.
Vaudeville -- United States -- History.
American wit and humor.
Radio personalities.

INVENTORY

Series 1: Photographs

Box 1
Ford family photograph album (1 of 2)

Box 2
Ford family photograph album (2 of 2)

Box 3
Photographs (9f)
Family (15f)
Ford portraits
Ford cartoons
Negatives
Celebrity photographs (5f)
Tin-types (2f)
Program, 1945

Box 4
Can You Top This? (34f)

Box 5
Autographed photographs
Photographs (3f)

Series 2: Scrapbooks

Box 6
Scrapbooks (3)

Box 7
Scrapbooks (3)

Box 8
Scrapbooks (20)

Box 9
Scrapbook 
Newspaper clippings

Box 10
Cartoons (4f)

Series 3: Correspondence

Correspondence (4f)

Series 4: Pamphlets and Magazines

Magazines (4f)

Box 11
Magazines (3f)

Box 12
Pamphlets (7f)

Box 13
Pamphlets (5f)