Don Lambert graduated from Concordia High School, Kansas in 1968. He spent two years at the Cloud County Community Junior College in Concordia, Kansas before receiving his journalism degree from Kansas State University in 1972. Lambert worked as a journalist before eventually making a career of promoting the arts and artists in Kansas.

After Lambert met the artist Elizabeth Layton and saw her artwork, he believed that Layton's talent was extraordinary and should be appreciated by a wide audience. Since Elizabeth Layton did not want to leave her hometown of Wellsville, Kansas, Lambert acted as her agent and arranged for exhibits of her work all over the United States. Lambert promoted her art by writing articles and arranging interviews. He coordinated donations of Layton's artwork to various Kansas art museums and institutions, as well as across the country.

Besides promoting Elizabeth Layton and her artwork, Lambert also worked with other contemporary Kansas artists through his work at the Topeka Arts Council. In addition, he championed John Steuart Curry, the Kansas artist who painted the murals at the Kansas Statehouse rotunda in Topeka in the early 1940s.

[Biographical information has been taken from the collection.]

Elizabeth Hope Converse was a native of Wellsville, Kansas. Her father, Asa Finch Converse, was the publisher of the Wellsville Globe newspaper. Her mother, May Frink Converse, wrote weekly articles for the paper. Elizabeth married in 1929 to Clyde Nichols, but returned home with her five children after the marriage failed and her father passed away. She helped her mother run the newspaper. Elizabeth later married Glenn F. Layton.

After years of suffering from depression without relief, Layton's sister suggested that she take an art class as a form of therapy. The local college was offering a class on "blind" contour drawing, a technique that involves looking at the paper only briefly for reference while concentrating on the artist's subject. Layton took the class at the age of 68, in 1977, her only training in drawing. Layton signed her artwork as "Grandma" because she was so much older than the other college students in the art class. The art class had an exhibit to showcase their work. Don Lambert, a reporter working for the local newspaper, the Ottawa Herald, saw Layton's artwork in the exhibit and contacted her. Lambert immediately saw talent in Layton's artwork.

Through the promotion of Don Lambert, Layton's artwork has been exhibited across the country and has been featured in numerous books, magazines, and newspapers. Layton's work focused on personal matters and rejected stereotypes about old age, mental health and illness, and gender. From the late 1970s until her death in 1993, Layton created thousands of drawings with social commentary and truthful depictions of aging and depression. Because Layton saw her artistic talent as a gift, she decided never to sell any of her artwork. Lambert helped her arrange donations of her work. After her death, Lambert continued to help by being involved in the Layton Foundation, an organization established to administer her paintings.

[Biographical information has been taken from the collection.]