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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.