Recently processed and now available for research, the William Boswell "Bosh" Rigsby papers (AC 907) contain family papers, photographs, and a collection of gags, or jokes, written by Rigsby for comic strip illustrators.
William Boswell "Bosh" Rigsby (1899-1963) was the son of William Allen Rigsby and Katharine Boswell Rigsby. He served in the U.S. Navy after attending the U.S. Naval Academy, where he received his nickname "Bosh." He was married to Louise Dyess and worked as a gag writer from the 1940s until his death in 1963.
Rigsby’s gags were almost all typed out on notecards.
Examples of Rigsby’s gag ideas with drawings.
Examples of Rigsby’s gag ideas with drawings.
There is correspondence of Boswell-Rigsby family members, as well as correspondence from Rigsby's naval career and his professional correspondence as a gag writer. Among the photographs are images of members of the Boswell-Rigsby family, as well as ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, and a tintype.
There is also a portrait drawing that may be of William B. Rigsby or (more likely, the collection's donor suggests, his father), signed by Katharine Boswell Rigsby.
Portrait from the collection, possibly of the father of William Boswell “Bosh” Rigsby. The image bears an inscription with the name of Katharine Boswell Rigsby, "Bosh" Rigsby's mother.
A Royal typewriter in a case is also part of the collection.
Learn more about this collection at this link.
Contributed by Anna Smith, Archives Processing Assistant
A portrait from the collections, inscribed with the name
