Earl Newberry (1894-1961) had a variety of careers during his life. He is best known as a promoter of theatrical shows, musical acts and auto thrill shows in the years before and after World War II. He was born in Chicago, but the Newberry family was originally from Detroit. He began his music career as a pianist for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the 1920s, then worked as director of several military marching bands in the 1930s. He departed from military bands in the 1930s and moved into ...

The Earl Newberry Collection consists of business records for his various enterprises, correspondences, newspaper clippings, magazines and publications relating to auto thrill shows, racing and fairs. There are also several audio recordings of radio advertisements for auto thrill shows in 33 1/3 RPM format.

A large portion of the collection is photographs representing Newberry’s many different careers in show business. This includes photographs of military marching bands, dancing girl...