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Walter B. Gibson (1897-1985) was a professional magician and author, who often wrote under the name Maxwell Grant, and is credited with defining and popularizing the pulp hero, The Shadow. The collection includes: Two Shadow story outlines, one from 1943 and another from 1980, which was Gibson's last Shadow story; 97 radio scripts from Strange, a seemingly lost 15-minute program that Gibson hosted in 1955; an unproduced television proposal, Mike Regan, Confidential Investigator, circa the mid 1950s; and two bookplates featuring a black and white image of The Shadow.

Walter Blair (1900-1992) was a professor at the University of Chicago from 1929 to 1968 and a specialist in American folklore and humor. Collection contains early drafts, edited manuscripts, and proofs of Blair's publications, as well as bibliographic information and correspondence regarding publication of materials and other professional services. The bulk of the material is comprised of draft manuscripts of his work which he wrote with Hamlin Hill (Texas A&M), America's Humor from Poor Richard to Doonesbury (Oxford, 1978). There is also a smaller amount of other materials such as correspondence and reviews related to other publications, including Native American Humor: 1800-1900 (1937), Horse Sense in American Humor (1942), Tall Tale America: A Legendary History of Our Humorous Heroes (1944), Half-Horse Half-Alligator: The Growth of the Mike Fink Legend (1956), and Mark Twain and Huck Finn (1960). Forms part of the Jay B. Hubbell Center for Literary Historiography.

Letter (ALS) to his editor or publisher, asking for paper to finish his autobiography.

W. C. Rivers was a Walt Whitman scholar. Collection comprises a file of correspondence addressed to Walter C. Rivers on the subject of Whitman's homosexuality. Includes transcriptions of letters from Bliss Perry and other contemporary Whitman scholars, as well as specialists on the subject of homosexuality, including Havelock Ellis.

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina; served on the House Budget and Labor and Education Committees. The papers of Walter Eugene Johnston, III, U.S. Representative from the 6th District of North Carolina, span the years 1980 to 1982, the time during which he served the 97th Congress. The collection consists of correspondence, clippings, and committee files, with subjects including current legislation, congressional caucuses, North Carolina public events, and regulatory reform. Committee files cover topics including budgets, banking, finance, urban affairs, education and labor, bills, health and safety, education, labor, energy, commerce, tax, and trade.

Collection contains correspondence, court records, depositions, motions, and other papers (chiefly 1915-1924), concerning Walter Gordon Merritt's work as a lawyer for various companies in labor cases. Much of the collection deals with the case of the Pennsylvania Mining Co. v. United Mine Workers of America, and refers to the presentation of briefs, development of arguments, and the general prosecution of the case. Collection also includes legal bulletins of the American Federation of Labor, and material concerning the Buck Stove and Range Co. case (1907), and the cases of Connors v. Connolly (Danbury Hatters' case of 1912), Duplex Printing Co. v. Emil J. Deering (1917), and Seubert V. Reiff (Cigarmakers' Union case, 1916). Correspondents include Henry S. Drinker, Jr., James K. Gearhart, W. A. Hardman, James B. McDonough, and Paul McKennon.

Walter Gordy (1909-1985) was a James B. Duke Professor of Physics at Duke University. In his over thirty year career at Duke, he founded and directed the Duke Microwave Laboratory, and researched and published extensively. The Walter Gordy Papers include correspondence, bibliographies, vita, articles, speeches, notebooks, teaching materials, illustrations, photographs, and graphs of experimental results. Major subjects include microwave spectroscopy, microwave radar, the Duke Microwave Laboratory, Army research Office , Durham (ARO-D), and the Duke Department of Physics. English.

Walter H. Smith donated this collection of Beat Literature. The majority relates to the career and life of Allen Ginsberg, a founding member of the Beat Generation. Other writers represented include Anne Waldman, Diane di Prima, and Anselm Hollo. Accessions (2009-0113) and (2009-0130) (200 items; 3.5 lin. ft.; dated 1959-2003) include books, compilations, journals, magazines, and other publications with works by and about Allen Ginsberg. Also included are posters and broadsides advertising events, readings, or publications by Ginsberg; many of these are signed. Accession (2010-0098) (25 items; 0.6 lin. ft.; dated 1950-2009) includes writings and some correspondence from Diane di Prima, Anselm Hollo, and Anne Waldman; also includes some Allen Ginsberg materials. Accession (2011-0045) (27 items; 1.5 lin. ft.; dated 1963-2007) includes pamphlets and publications by Gary Snyder.

Attorney and judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore, 1911-1934. Collection includes 10 manuscript diaries, with handwritten entries as well as inserted clippings and ephemeral items, dating from the years 1902, 1903, 1905, 1920-1922, 1926, 1929, 1930, and 1932.

Walter J. Taylor was incarcerated at San Quentin and Folsom prisons from 1968 to 1973. While in jail, he founded the Sisters of Motivation and the Community Concern for Prisoners organizations to help African American convicts. He was also arrested, but never charged, as a suspect in the "Stinky Rapist" crimes in Berkeley, California, from 1973 to 1978. Collection consists largely of materials from Taylor's time in prison and as a community activist, post-prison, in Berkeley, California, during the 1970s. The majority of the materials comprises Taylor's incoming correspondence during his incarceration, which includes letters from a variety of people, especially women participating as pen pals in the Sisters of Motivation organization. Other frequent writers are Taylor's girlfriends, family members, and community organizations that he had contacted regarding his imprisonment and the general condition of black male prisoners. Post-prison materials consist largely of letters of recommendation and thanks relating to his job as a youth counselor; creative writings and poems about black culture and beauty; business flyers for his music store; and Community Concern for Prisoners materials. Collection also includes several folders of news clippings, most of which relate to Taylor being the prime suspect for the "Stinky Rapist" crimes in Berkeley from 1973 to 1978. Acquired as part of the Human Rights Archive at Duke University.