Laura Cobb Hutchins Paddock "Aunt Lollipop" collection

Laura Cobb Hutchins Paddock "Aunt Lollipop" collection

Descriptive Summary

Title: Laura Cobb Hutchins Paddock "Aunt Lollipop" collection
Creator: Paddock, Laura Cobb Hutchins, 1892-1979
Inclusive Dates: 1892-1995
Language(s): English
Extent: 8 Linear Feet (9 boxes and 1 oversize folder)
Collection Number: UA22-004
Repository: University of Georgia Archives

Collection Description

Historical Note

Laura Cobb Hutchins Paddock (1892-1979) was a puppeteer, professional storyteller, and teacher from Athens, Georgia who played a character named Aunt Lollipop and hosted the children's television shows "Aunt Lollipop's Puppet Shop," "A Visit With Aunt Lollipop," "Aunt Lollipop in Mother Goose Village," and "Aunt Lollipop's Story Book Land" on WGTV, broadcast from the University of Georgia. Her WGTV programs aired from 1967 until her death in 1979. Paddock owned over 100 puppets, but her signature puppet was a monkey named Pedro that featured in most of her shows.

Paddock began her broadcast career as a storyteller on WGAU radio in Athens in 1940. While she ended her career as Aunt Lollipop in Athens on WGTV in the 1960s and 70s, Paddock had by that time made a name for the character on WBZ radio in Boston, WHNC-TV in New Haven, WBAL-TV and WMAR-TV in Baltimore, and television stations in Palm Beach and Miami, Florida.

Paddock's ancestry connects her to the prominent Cobb and Rutherford families of Athens. She was the granddaughter of University of Georgia math professor Williams Rutherford on her mother's side, as well as the niece of Mildred Rutherford, and the grandniece of Howell Cobb and Thomas Reade Roots Cobb. She graduated from the Lucy Cobb Institute and married Dave Paddock in 1917. Mr. Paddock was the captain of the University of Georgia football team and was twice voted All American quarterback. The Paddocks would raise three children: David Jr., Laura, and Margaret.

She performed as Aunt Lollipop into her final years of life and died in 1979 at the age of 87.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of several of Laura Cobb Hutchins Paddock's puppetry artifacts, including a variety of hand puppets, stick puppets, and components of a puppet theater. The collection also contains several scrapbooks documenting Paddock's career as a storyteller and puppeteer under the moniker Aunt Lollipop. The scrapbooks are made up of newspaper clippings, photographs, correspondence, programs, diplomas, and other ephemera. Some of the scrapbooks document Paddock's family history. Several copies of Athens High School's literary magazine, The Scroll, dating from the late 1930s, are also included.


Administrative Information

Conditions Governing Access

Materials in the collection labelled as being in organic storage are housed off site in a secure location to address their particular preservation requirements. Access to these materials requires 24 hours notice for retrieval to provide for access at the Special Collections Libraries.


Related Materials and Subjects

Subject Terms

Related Collections in this Repository

Related collections in the Hargrett Library include the Lipscomb family photo albums, ms1635; and the Mildred Lewis Rutherford papers, ms 41.

Related materials in the Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection include "A Visit With Aunt Lollipop" episode (broadcast April 5, 1968) from the Georgia Center Film and Videotape Collection and the "Paddock, David (Mrs.) 'Aunt Lollipop'" interview from the Athens Clarke Heritage Foundation Oral History Tapes.


Series Descriptions and Folder Listing

 
oversized_box
MLS 1 [organic storage]Stick puppets: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Hansel and Gretel, and Little Black Sambo
 
oversized_box
MLS 2 [organic storage]Puppet stage and scenery for stick puppetry
 
oversized_box
MLS 3 [organic storage]Stick puppets: Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and circus characters
 
oversized_box
MLS 4 [organic storage]Two hand puppets with wooden horse-draw carriage
 
box
5Puppets: Pedro the monkey, Pedro's bride, and three child puppets with sticks
 
box
6Aunt Lollipop scrapbooks
 
box
7Aunt Lollipop scrapbook and Dave Paddock, Jr. World War II scrapbook
 
boxfolder
81Aunt Lollipop business correspondence, 1948-1978
 
82Letters to Aunt Lollipop, 1975
 
84Puppetry photographs
 
85Childhood photographs of Laura Cobb Hutchins Paddock, 1890s
 
86Unidentified photographs
 
87Little Mrs. Lame Duck, Third Edition, by "Aunt Lollipop" [Laura H. Paddock], 1978
 
88Aunt Lollipop stories and songs
 
89Florida Guide, Second Edition (Aunt Lollipop cover story), 1972
 
810WGTV program guide, volume 10, number 5, 1975 April
 
811United Daughters of the Confederacy membership application, 1968
 
812The Puppetry Journal, volume 25, number 3, 1973 November-December
 
813"The Lollipop Tree" sheet music, 1951
 
814List of puppets
 
815Obituaries, 1979
 
816Athens Puppet Theatre Company brochure, circa 1982
 
817Dave Paddock, Sr. University of Georgia football team photograph, 1934
 
boxfolder
91Dave Paddock, Sr. stories
 
92Lolla Paddock's Athens High School materials, 1937-1940
 
93The Scroll literary magazine (Athens High School), 1937-1938
 
94The Scroll literary magazine (Athens High School), 1938-1939
 
95"Goodbye Sweetheart Mine" sheet music by "Jean de La Mar" [Lamar Rutherford Lipscomb], 1944
 
96Lucy Lampkin and Dancers Recital program, 1934 June 8
 
97Athens Chamber of Commerce brochure
 
98T.R.R. Cobb marker dedication program, 1995 October 15
 
oversized_folder
1Laura Cobb Hutchins Paddock childhood photo, approximately age five, circa 1897

Special Collections Libraries
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-1641