Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Ted Taylor sousfonds
General material designation
- Textual record
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Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on main creator of records in this sousfonds. The name 'Ted' Taylor was selected over 'Theodore', as this is the name that he went by as an adult and the name that appears on all of his articles, business cards, stationery etc.
Level of description
Sousfonds
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1827-1972, predominant 1902-1947 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
- 3.74 m of textual records
- 503 photographs
- 6 objects
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
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Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Theodore (Ted) Pierce Taylor was born September 5, 1896 in Oak Park, Illinois, to L.D. and Annie Louise Taylor, shortly after L.D. s arrival in Vancouver, British Columbia. Annie and Ted joined L.D. in Vancouver in 1901, and lived there until 1906, when Annie moved Ted and his brother Kenneth (Ken) (b. 1902) to Los Angeles.
Ted graduated from L.A. Berendo High School in June 1915. As a student, he was active in theatre and the school newspaper. Upon graduation, he began writing about motion pictures and, in 1918, he became a reporter for the Los Angeles Times . In March 1919, Ted was hired as the Director of the News Department for the Metro Pictures Corporation. Upon his resignation in May 1920, he became the editor and publisher of the Studio Publicists Association s Mouth Organ . Later that year he worked for Universal Pictures for a short time and then concentrated on freelance publicity work for individuals such as Ferdinand Earle, William Desmond Taylor and Reginald Barker. In 1921 Ted married Ruth Wing.
Following employment as the editor and publisher of CAMERA! in 1921 and 1922, Ted was hired as Motion Picture Editor and editor of the Cinematters column for the Los Angeles Record in July 1922. In 1923, he also worked as a publicist for the Goldwyn Pictures Corporation.
Immediately following an appointment as the Los Angeles representative of the New York Morning Telegraph in January 1925, Ted moved to Paris, France with Mary Beaton (b. July 19, 1905), the daughter of Octavia (d. 1946) and George Beaton (d. 1938). Having obtained a divorce from Ruth Wing, he married Mary and she gave birth to a daughter, Mary Louise Taylor, on April 16, 1925. Mary died shortly after from complications related to the birth. Ted remained in Paris until September 1928, working as a reporter for the Paris Times . Octavia Beaton arrived in Paris in later in 1925 to care for Mary Louise, and returned with Mary to the United States in 1928. In 1929, they joined Ted in Los Angeles.
Upon his return to Los Angeles, Ted became the manager of the L.A. Press Services, which Ken, now the editor of the Los Angeles Express, had been running in his absence. For the next several years, Ted was employed in various press positions, including: reporter, Variety (September 1929 to June 1932); editor, Los Angeles Today (September 1933); reporter and assistant editor, Hollywood Reporter (May 1934-October 1937); publicity copy editor, features, Columbia Pictures (October 1937-June 1940); editor and weekly columnist, Hollywood MOVIES (August to December 1940, 1941). He then worked as a freelance publicist, and acquired additional employment with the Screen Publicists Guild, Screen Cartoonists Guild, Hollywood Sun , War Labor Board, Federated Press, and the magazines Frauds and Cosmopolitan . He was also a co-writer of Leonard Louis Levinson s The Left-Handed Dictionary .
Ted was an active member of several organizations during his career, including the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers (WAMPAS), Screen Publicists Guild, Affiliated Picture Interests, Committee of 14, Los Angeles Press Club, American Newspaper Guild, Motion Picture Democratic Committee, Conference of Studio Unions, Los Angeles Central Labor Council, and the Victory Council.
Custodial history
Records were originally created, received and maintained by several creators: Osborne J. Pierce, Caroline Little Pierce, Annie Louise Taylor, Winifred Mabel Pierce, Kenneth Taylor, Octavia Beaton and Mary Beaton Taylor. Presumably these records were passed into the custody of Ted Taylor after the deaths of the original creators. Ted Taylor then organized the records as a collective entity
Scope and content
Sousfonds consists of correspondence, photographs and other records of Ted Taylor and members of the Taylor, Pierce and Beaton families, arranged into files by Ted. The majority of records were created or accumulated by Ted, and pertain to his personal and professional activities. Records concern his relationships with family, friends and colleagues, his career as a publicist and reporter in Hollywood, California and Paris, France, and his involvement in various associations. In addition to Ted s records, the sousfonds also contains records of and pertaining to Octavia Beaton, Mary Beaton, Mary Louise Taylor, Ken Taylor, L.D. Taylor, Annie Louise Taylor, Caroline Little Pierce, Winifred Mabel Pierce and Osborne J. Pierce. Material pertaining to L.D. Taylor includes correspondence with various members of the family, photographs, and notes concerning L.D. s activities in Vancouver, as Mayor, and his death and funeral. In addition to correspondence and photographs, record include notes, newspaper clippings, articles, drafts, notebooks, address books, journals, studio passes, cards, drawings, paintings, sketches, press release, publications, scripts, ephemera, legal documents, bills, receipts and other financial records, postcards, agreements and contracts, and objects.
The sousfonds has been arranged into the following seven series: Correspondence and subject files (1906-1947); Family Letter files (1827-1954); Financial and property records (1910-1957); Scrapbook (1918-1924); Photographs ([1909-1947]); Octavia Stewart Beaton records (1902-[after 1946]); Mary Louise Taylor Werbel records (1963, 1972).
Notes area
Physical condition
Some records are very acidic and brittle. Some items have been affected by mold
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Records were arranged by Ted Taylor
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Restrictions apply to some material for privacy reasons.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Series, file and item level descriptions are available