The Tom Donovan Papers, 1943-1974, consist primarily of scripts, correspondence, and production materials for television productions Donovan has been involved in; and of material on the Directors Guild of America. There is also a small file of correspondence arranged by topic, six folders of ABC and CBS television network policy and standards documents, and two folders re his work in the theater. The final arrangement of the collection generally reflects the condition in which Donovan maintained it.
Donovan has been quite active in the professional and collective bargaining organizations in theater and television, which is well illustrated by his correspondence, as well as by his files of ABC and CBS policy and operations documents in Box 14 and by the Directors Guild of America files. The correspondence in Boxes 1 and 2 is arranged by topic, and other correspondence is scattered throughout the collection.
The ABC and CBS network documents include a 1966 ABC standards and policies booklet, a 1965 CBS introduction to color booklet, a 1972 “Daytime Drama on the CBS Television Network,” a folder of CBS correspondence re standards and policies, 1956-1973, and a folder of CBS time records for Donovan and his secretary, 1973.
The Directors Guild of America files include minutes of many meetings from its inception in 1960 to early 1974, and correspondence in the same time period between members and the national office re the purpose and direction of the Guild, its publications, and its responsibilities to the television and motion picture industries. Arrangement is generally chronological.
Two folders in Box 5 concern Donovan's early theater experiences, 1946-1950, and his part in the production of Harvey (Ivoryton Theatre, Ivoryton, Connecticut, 1957, week of September 10).
The television production materials contain items covering many aspects of production, including correspondence, scripts, notes, budgets, set designs, reviews, and other documents. Produced and unproduced materials are arranged together in a chronological file organized by individual episode; occasionally episodes prepared for one series are scattered throughout the file, but there is an index for these series that precedes the container list. The material spans the years 1950 to 1974. The earlier files concern programs for such series as Studio One, the U.S. Steel Hour, Playhouse 90, Family Classics, and The Roots of Freedom. After 1964 there are files on soap operas and daytime shows like Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, CBS Daytime 90, and A World Apart in addition to material for nighttime programs like the Hallmark Hall of Fame, NYPD, and The Story of John Peter Zenger. Box 15 contains set designs for some of these productions, and thirteen oversize set designs have been transferred to the Visual Material section. Photographs found in the collection were transferred to the General Stills Archive of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, but copies were left with the papers.
