Wanda Clayton Thomas was a teacher of speech and theater for over thirty years. Although the greater part of those years were spent at the University of Utah, her influences and contributions are international. She began her teaching career in Sacramento, California, taught in Utah, and later in Guam. Aside from teaching, Thomas performed in many theatrical productions and was dubbed by Lila Eccles Brimhall, a well-known Utah actress, as the best actress in Utah.
Wanda Thomas was born on 6 December 1912, in Salt Lake City, Utah. In a handwritten autobiography present in the collection, Thomas describes her love for the theater as starting when her mother began teaching her recitations. Thomas had always dreamed of being an actress and was in every play in high school. At the University of Utah she was trained by actress Maud May Babcock and received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from that institution in 1934, 1945, and 1957 respectively.
After obtaining her master's degree from the University of Utah, Thomas moved to Sacramento, California, where she was a stagecraft, lighting, voice, and acting instructor, as well as a director of theater from 1946 to 1947. She was also invited to join a traveling acting company on the east coast of the United States, but declined due to her engagement to Richard E. Howe (died 1960). Thomas then moved back to Utah and became an instructor for the Department of Speech at the University of Utah from 1947 to 1956, and served as an assistant professor for the same department from 1956 to 1961. She became an associate professor in 1962 but retired from the University of Utah in 1964 when she was married to her second husband, Richard E. Mallonee. Thomas returned to Utah and to teaching several years later when her husband died. She was made a professor in 1969. During the late 1960s and early 1970s Thomas found time to write, manage, and produce the American Poet Series, a series of films documenting the lives of several poets. These films were shown throughout the United States and Hawaii. From 1970 to 1972 she was a professor of speech at the University of Guam, then returned to the University of Utah to be a professor of speech communication until 1978.
Thomas was also involved in many social groups, including the Maud May Babcock Reading Arts Society, the Speech Arts Guild, Phi Kappa Phi, and several women's organizations, many of which are represented in the collection. She was active in the Democratic Party and authored several plays, including Three Dramas from Mormon Country . Wanda Thomas died on 26 March 1996, in a car crash. She had two children.
From the guide to the Wanda Clayton Thomas papers, 1839-1990, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)
