Allen Prescott collection
Published: 1930
Language: eng
Number of pages: 3065
Subjects: Photographs; Home economics; Archives
Other titles: Wife saver (Radio program)
Description: The Allen Prescott collection consists of textual materials, 6 sound recordings on 7-inch reels, and 63 photographs pertaining to Prescott's career as a radio personality during the early 1930s to 1970. The paper material includes correspondence, fan mail, radio scripts, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, an unpublished novel, short stories, and an interview with entertainer Steve Allen. The sound recordings include undated Wife saver programs and brief announcements, experimental spots, and audition pieces for a program called As a matter of fact. Some of the photographs document Prescott's World War II military service, but most are studio portraits and publicity photos of Prescott, his colleagues, and other radio personalities such as Fran Allison, Rex Stout, Graham McNamee, Ted Husing, and Ace Pancoast.
Notes: The Allen Prescott Collection is open for research.

[Container number, eg., Box 3] or [Audio tape number, eg., RXA 2480], Allen Prescott Collection, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress.

A digital version of the audiotapes is available for listening in the Recorded Sound Reference Center, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC,20540-4690. Format of access copy: Broadcast Wave (BWF), 44.1 kHz, 16 bits per sample (made from preservation copy: Broadcast Wave (BWF), 96 kHz, 24 bits per sample).

Restrictions may exist on copying, quoting, or publishing materials included in the collection. For additional information, contact a reference librarian in the Recorded Sound Reference Center, Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress.

The collection was donated to the Library of Congress by Raymond A. Mann in 1980.

Allen Prescott (1904-1978) was best known as the host of the program The wife saver, a light and humorous radio show offering household hints to housewives several mornings and afternoons a week. Prescott began his radio career as a newscaster in New York, appearing on a WMCA news program with Walter Winchell in 1929 and covering special events for WINS in the early 1930s. The wife saver aired on New York radio stations WINS and WABC in 1929, moving to NBC's Blue Network in 1932. By 1941 the program's name and format changed to Prescott presents; it was broadcast until 1943. Prescott also wrote two books and hosted several other radio and television programs. He died in 1978.

A finding aid to the collection is available in the Recorded Sound Reference Center and at URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsrs/eadmbrs.rs009004