Acquisition	Purchase, 1972 (R5717)
	Provenance	Ross's first shipment of materials to the Ransom Center accompanied her husband Stanley Young's papers, and consisted of Ross's literary output to 1975, including manuscripts, publications, and research materials. The second, posthumous shipment contained manuscripts created since 1974, and all her correspondence, personal, and financial files, as well as files concerning the estate of Stanley Young.
	Processed by	Rufus Lund, 1992-93; completed by Joan Sibley, 1994 Processing note: Materials from the 1975 and 1986 shipments are grouped following Ross's original order, with the exception of pre-1970, special, and current correspondence which were interfiled during processing. An index of selected correspondents follows at the end of this inventory.

Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

	Nancy Wilson was born in Olympia, Washington, on November 22, 1901. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 1924, and married Charles W. Ross of Auburn, New York, three years later. They studied at the Bauhaus in Germany 1931-33, then returned to live in New York City for four years. From 1938 to 1942 they lived on Hood Canal in Washington State. Her second marriage was to publisher and playwright Stanley Young in 1942. They made their home on the Whitney estate 'Applegreen,' Old Westbury, Long Island.
	As Nancy Wilson, her first published novel was Friday to Monday (1932). Her first magazine story had appeared in 1924. She published five novels of contemporary life and culture under the name of Nancy Wilson Ross, illustrating the experience, the developing self-knowledge, and the spiritual growth of her characters. The novels include Take the Lightning (1940), The Left Hand Is the Dreamer (1947), I, My Ancestor (1950), Time's Corner (1952), and The Return of Lady Brace (1957). Culminating years of interest in Asian religion and art, her last three books introduced Buddhism to Western readers: The World of Zen: an East-West Anthology (1960), Three Ways of Asian Wisdom (1966), and Buddhism, a Way of Life and Thought (1980). In addition, she wrote about the Pacific Northwest in The Farthest Reach (1941) and about the pioneer settlers of that region in Westward the Women (1944). Joan of Arc (1952), Thor's Visit to the Land of Giants (1959), and Heroines of the Early West (1960) are the books she wrote for juvenile readers. Throughout her career Ross had many articles and reviews published in such magazines as Harper's Bazaar, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Book Review.
	Ross served on the board of the Asia Society from its founding by John D. Rockefeller III in 1956 until 1985. She was an inspiring and life-long friend to many: faculty at the University of Oregon from the 1920s; a circle of artists, dancers, and actors associated with Dartington Hall in Devon and the Cornish School in Seattle from the 1930s; and an intellectual set in New York City that included Mary and Paul Mellon from the 1930s and 40s. Through her husband Stanley Young's career associates and her own literary successes, Ross engendered friendships with a number of New York editors, publishers, and theatre people.
	Ross and her husband Stanley Young sold their personal and literary papers to the University of Texas in 1972. The sale was enabled by a matching grant for purchase and cataloging from the Avon (later Jerome) Foundation.
	After her husband's death in 1975, Ross was increasingly involved with Buddhism. During the last ten years of her life a member of the San Francisco Zen Center shared her house and helped organize her papers. Ross died Jan. 18, 1986, in Vero Beach, Florida.

	Scope and Contents
		The Nancy Wilson Ross Papers, 1913-86, contain virtually complete documentation of her professional writing career, extensive personal correspondence, and files reflecting her interest in Far Eastern culture. Types of materials found in the collection include holograph manuscript notes; typed manuscripts, carbons, and photocopies; photographs; galley and page proofs; contracts and royalty statements; book announcements; dust jackets; publicity clippings; correspondence; pencil, ink, and watercolor sketches; reports; exhibit announcements and catalogs; newspaper clippings; and periodical publications. The collection is arranged in eleven series: I. Literary Works, 1913-85 (94 boxes); II. Agents & Publishers, 1929-85 (9 boxes); III. C. V. Whitney Pictures, Inc., 1954-56 (5 boxes); IV. Correspondence, 1916-85 (69 boxes); V. Legal & Personal Files, 1937-85 (21 boxes); VI. Association Boards & Memberships, 1953-85 (30 boxes); VII. Personal Finances, 1942-86 (24 boxes); VIII. Clipping File, 1931-85 (16 boxes); IX. Personal Library Card Catalog, 1974 (9 boxes); X. Art File, 1930-85 (12 boxes); XI. Photographs, 1917-84 (2.5 boxes).
		Early drafts and working manuscripts of fourteen published books and an unpublished first novel, manuscripts or publication copies of her short stories, poetry, articles, and reviews, notes and tapes of her lectures and an interview, along with a supplementary file of correspondence with literary agents and publishers document her writing career. Ross's scouting duties for C. V. Whitney Pictures, Inc., 1954-56, are documented by correspondence and readers' reports.
		Personal records include extensive correspondence with friends and family, legal files, financial records, a clipping file a file of art exhibit announcements, and photographs. Personal correspondence identified as 'special' on Ross's 1981 guide to her files (see folder 97.17) includes correspondence with her husband, Stanley Young, her sister Peg Keblish, and her friends Edward Beck, Sam T. Berkeley-Hill, Camille Bovard, Dorothy Whitney Elmhirst, Gerald Heard, Jerome Hill, Elizabeth Jay Hollins, William O. Douglas, Morris Graves, Paul and Mary Mellon, Maud Oakes, Robert Osborne, Beatrice Straight, and Mark Tobey.
		Other important correspondents listed in Ross's 'Literary Memorabilia' list (see folder 97.17) include such varied figures as Evelyn Perkins Ames, Merle Armitage, Elizabeth Bowen, Marguerite Caetani, John Cage, Joseph Campbell, Carl Carmer, Hope Cooke, Margaret Cousins, Malcolm Cowley, Isak Dinesen, E. M. Forster, John Kenneth Galbraith, Indira Gandhi, Allen Ginsberg, Martha Graham, Aldous Huxley, Wassily Kandinsky, Alfred and Blanche Knopf, C. S. Lewis, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Robert Lowell, Thomas Merton, Marianne Moore, Lewis Mumford, John D. Rockefeller III, Theodore Roethke, Eleanor Roosevelt, Paul Scott, Zachary Scott, Gary Snyder, Jean Stafford, Allen Tate, Gloria Vanderbilt, Alan Watts, Eudora Welty, Thornton Wilder, Audrey Wood, and many others.
		The correspondence also contains letters concerning the Bauhaus in the Lyonel Feininger, Mira and Armin Lührs, and 'German Letters' files. Paul Klee is represented by a few letters and by Ross's piece in Five Essays on Paul Klee (1950). Letters and publications describing Dartington Hall, an experimental center in theatre, dance, crafts, and agriculture, exist in correspondence with the founders, Leonard and Dorothy Whitney Elmhirst, 1937-74.
		Correspondence, organization records, and publications represent Ross's participation on the boards of the Asia Society, the Tibetan Foundation, the Martha Graham Foundation, on the Authors Guild Council, her membership in the Cosmopolitan Club (New York), and her association with the San Francisco Zen Center. There are extensive files on Zen Buddhism in the United States in the Association series, 1968-83. Included are newsletters and reports, and much individual correspondence with members of the San Francisco Zen Center, including its former abbot Richard Baker, and one of its founders, Yvonne Rand, who also served as Executor for Ross’ estate.
		The Ross Papers came to the Harry Ransom Center in 1975, accompanied by a box list (see folder 235.9), and comprising mostly literary manuscripts. A final shipment arrived after her death in 1986, without inventory, containing literary work after 1975, all her personal correspondence, and financial records.
		Original order was maintained in processing to the extent that series and subseries roughly reflect Ross's organization in file cabinets and in her 1975 shipment. Current and back correspondence were interfiled in processing. Oversize materials are housed in flat boxes, approximately following the main box number sequence.
		In 1993 the manuscripts and correspondence were treated by the diethyl zinc deacidification process. The contents of boxes 9, 16-18, 34-35, 43, 45-47, 50, 63, 68, consisting of photographs and oversize documents were not treated, nor were materials (mainly cards and printed matter) in boxes 183-196, 206-209, 239-250.
		Other Nancy Wilson Ross materials are located in several other collections at the HRC: Merle Armitage, Thomas Bertram Costain, Margaret Cousins, Morris Ernst, Harpers, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., and Charles Norman. Ross's personal library is also present, and can be accessed through the Collections File card catalog and/or the online catalog, UTCAT. Items withdrawn from these books are now located in the HRC Vertical File.
	Series Descriptions
		Series I. Literary Works, 1913-85 (94 boxes)
		Ross's literary works are arranged in subseries by genre and then chronologically.
		Subseries A, Books, 1926-80, includes manuscript notes, typed drafts and revisions, illustration photographs, proofs, business correspondence with editors and publishers, fan mail, publicity, and review clippings for seven novels, six non-fiction works, and four juveniles.
		The novels include Twice Two (unpublished), Friday to Monday (Liveright, 1932), Take the Lightning (Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1940), The Left Hand Is the Dreamer (William Sloane Associates, 1947), I, My Ancestor (Random House, 1950), Time's Corner (Random House, 1952), and The Return of Lady Brace (Random House, 1957). With the exception of Friday to Monday, the published novels are represented by versions ranging from the author's early draft to the printer's copy.
		Non-fiction works include Farthest Reach (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1941), The Waves (Henry Holt & Co., 1943), Westward the Women (Knopf, 1944), The World of Zen (Random House, 1960), Three Ways of Asian Wisdom (Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1966), and Buddhism: A Way of Life and Thought (Knopf, 1980). The Farthest Reach and Three Ways of Asian Wisdom files contain numerous photographs of places and art used for illustrations. Buddhism, originally under contract with Random House, includes drafts dating from 1952.
		Juveniles include Joan of Arc (Random House, 1952), Nelly Bly (unpublished), Thor's Visit to the Land of Giants (Random House, 1959), and Heroines of the Early West (Random House, 1960).
		Subseries B, Stories & Poems, 1913-81, includes published versions, (often represented only b a magazine issue), unpublished manuscripts, and correspondence, arranged chronologically, followed by undated stories and poems at the end. The work ranges from published romances for St. Nicholas (1925-26) and a few New Yorker sketches and poems (1934-56) to unpublished juvenilia (ca. 1913-17) and college papers and stories (ca. 1922-25).
		Subseries C, Lectures, 1938-56, includes manuscripts, notes, eight tape recordings, and announcements for talks on literature, art, and Asian religion. The lectures are arranged alphabetically by location or name of the organization for which they were given. The tape recordings and notes follow at the end of the subseries.
		Subseries D, Plays & Radio Scripts, 1922-47, includes scripts for college skits, an outline and playscript, and a 1944 radio program script.
		Subseries E, Articles, 1929-83, includes published versions and unpublished notes, typescripts, and correspondence, as well as periodical issues (many cataloged individually on UTCAT), and a book introduction. Of note are her articles 'German Main Street' in the Saturday Evening Post (1932), 'The Spiritual Adventure' in Harper's Bazaar (1950), 'I Went to a Sikkim Wedding' in Vogue (1963), and 'In the Himalayas an American Becomes a Royal Princess' in Saturday Evening Post (1963). The files are arranged chronologically except for three small sections at the end of the subseries comprising article ideas, Bauhaus files, and files about Martha Graham.
		Subseries F, Book Reviews by NWR, 1954-85, contains typescripts, clippings, a workfile of rewrites, and proof copies of books, manuscripts, and articles by writers under review. Ross was a regular reviewer of books on Asian religion and art from 1956 to 1985 for the New York Times and the Saturday Review. Reviews are arranged chronologically, followed by proof copies and manuscripts of unreviewed works.
		Series II. Agents & Publishers, 1929-85 (9 boxes)
		Arranged primarily by name of publisher, agent (primarily Harold Ober Associates), magazine, or newspaper, this series supplements business correspondence filed with the various works in the Literary Works series. Further correspondence with editors and publishers is also found in the Personal Correspondence subseries. The publicity files included in this series contain photographs, biographical data, interviews, and articles about Ms. Ross.
		Series III. C. V. Whitney Pictures, Inc., 1954-56 (5 boxes)
		The series consists of records of Ross's work as scout for movie ideas, resulting in the production The Searchers. The series is divided into two groupings, one comprising files kept in NWR's Old Westbury office, and the other from the New York office files of her assistant, Blythe Morley. Consisting of correspondence and subject files, each grouping is arranged alphabetically. Correspondents in this series include Merian C. Cooper and C. V. Whitney.
		Series IV. Correspondence, 1916-86 (69 boxes)
		This series is grouped into three subseries: Personal Correspondence, 1924-86, Early Correspondence, 1918-37, and Family Correspondence, 1916-86. The Personal Correspondence includes incoming correspondence interfiled with handwritten drafts or typed carbons of Ross's outgoing correspondence, arranged alphabetically by the correspondent's name. Occasionally the correspondence is grouped under terms such as 'Indian Letters' and 'Irish Letters Written by NWR from Morris Graves' House,' or by subjects such as 'Household' or 'Medical.' Some correspondence is filed under the name of an organization, e.g. the MacDowell Colony. There is extensive correspondence with Camille Bovard, Paul Mellon, and Cleomé Wadsworth, and with the circle of friends associated with Dartington Hall (Totnes, England) and the Cornish School (Seattle, WA), including Dorothy Elmhirst, Morris Graves, Maud Oakes, Richard Odlin, Beatrice Straight, and Mark Tobey. The correspondence is of friendship and personal contact, primarily of biographical interest, with little discussion of her writing. The Wadsworth folders include original letters from Ross.
		Other correspondents include Evelyn Perkins Ames, Merle Armitage, Elizabeth Bowen, Marguerite Caetani, John Cage, Joseph Campbell, Carl Carmer, Hope Cooke, Margaret Cousins, Malcolm Cowley, Isak Dinesen, E. M. Forster, John Kenneth Galbraith, Indira Gandhi, Allen Ginsberg, Martha Graham, Aldous Huxley, Wassily Kandinsky, Alfred and Blanche Knopf, C. S. Lewis, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Robert Lowell, Thomas Merton, Marianne Moore, Lewis Mumford, John D. Rockefeller III, Theodore Roethke, Eleanor Roosevelt, Paul Scott, Zachary Scott, Gary Snyder, Jean Stafford, Allen Tate, Gloria Vanderbilt, Alan Watts, Eudora Welty, Thornton Wilder, Audrey Wood, and many others.
		The other subseries, Early Correspondence and Family Correspondence, retain Ross's filing system. There are letters written by the young Nancy Wilson Ross to Helen H. Gray, 1918-20, in the Early subseries, as well as letters received from various friends, 1921-32. The Family subseries contains much correspondence with Ross's husband Stanley Young, and her sister Peg Keblish, as well as a small amount of correspondence with members of Stanley Young's family.
		Series V. Legal & Personal Files, 1937-85 (21 boxes)
		While this series isn't arranged in any particular order, the several boxes contain correspondence and documents concerning marriage, divorce, personal property, insurance, and files relating to the estates of Ross and her husband Stanley Young. These are followed by address and engagement books, and a group of travel notes and memorabilia from trips to Japan in 1939, to Europe as a war correspondent in 1945, to India in 1953 and 1967, and `Behind the Iron Curtain' in 1968. These travel papers are arranged chronologically.
		Series VI. Association Boards & Memberships, 1953-85 (30 boxes)
		This series reflects Ross's involvement with a large number of associations and foundations (with the exception of the Martha Graham Foundation, which is filed in the Literary Works series in folders 87.1-.15). Of particular importance in this series are records from the Asia Society, of which Ross served as an active board member (1956-85?), on the Publication Committee (1962-71), on the India Council (1966-?), and on the Executive Committee (1971-?), and records of the Tibetan Foundation of which she was a director, 1961-73. Also present are records of the San Francisco Zen Center, which provided secretarial and household help to Ross after Stanley Young's death, and which ultimately became the beneficiary of her estate. Other materials include correspondence with PEN, issues of the Authors Guild Bulletin (1953-85), and three boxes relating to SEADAG (Southeast Asia Development Advisory Group), 1968-74. The series is arranged alphabetically by name of the organization, or by topic (e.g., Zen).
		Series VII. Personal Finances, 1942-86 (24 boxes)
		Includes real estate, personal property, insurance, and investment files arranged alphabetically, followed by income tax and household expense records. Correspondence relating to the sale and cataloging of the Ross and Young collections is also located in this series (see folders 233.1-234.9).
		Series VIII. Clipping File, 1931-85 (16 boxes)
		This series consists of an alphabetical subject file of newspaper clippings kept by Ross on a large variety of topics, including animal life, art, medical science, travel, etc. By her own admission, "I am an indefatigable clipper. For years I've kept elaborate files for my own pleasure and amazement." There are four folders of unfiled clippings at the end of the series.
		Series IX. Personal Library Card Catalog, 1974 (9 card boxes)
		These cards, made after the initial sale of her papers, represent Ross's catalog of her personal library and a few books belonging to Stanley Young. Some of these books are now in the HRC Library. Items withdrawn from the books are in the HRC Vertical Files. Some of the books have been transferred to UT General Libraries, including a number of Buddhism titles and review copies with manuscript notes, and a few of Ross's books in presentation bindings.
		Series X. Art File, 1930-85 (12 boxes)
		Ross's art file contains numerous postcards of places of interest and art objects. These are followed by exhibit announcements which are subdivided into museums (notably of the Museum of Modern Art, the Bucholz-Curt Valentin Gallery, and the Willard Gallery, all in New York City) and art galleries. The art galleries. The art gallery announcements are further divided into miscellaneous announcements, followed by alphabetical files representing various galleries.
		Series XI. Photographs, 1917-84 (2.5 boxes)
		This series consists of the contents of three photograph albums plus a few oversize photographs. The photographs were removed from the albums and housed in sleeves and folders (retaining the original order of the albums) for preservation reasons. Most of the photographs depict Nancy Wilson Ross, her husband Stanley P. Young, and family members, though there are also photos of various trips (e.g., to Europe during World War II, and to Sikkim in 1963). Other persons appearing in these photographs include Kay Boyle, Martha Graham, Gerald Heard, and Marianne Moore. While some of the photographs have identifications on the verso, the majority do not.

Sound recordings were transferred to the Ransom Center's Sound Recording collection and are described individually in a list at the end of this finding aid and in a searchable database.

	Correspondents
		Allen, Steve, 1921- .
		Ames, Evelyn Perkins.
		Armitage, Merle, 1893-1975.
		Auchincloss, Janet.
		Baird, Bil, 1904-1987.
		Beck, Edward.
		Benoit, Hubert.
		Berkeley-Hill, Sam T.
		Birla, Saraladevi.
		Bliven, Bruce.
		Bovard, Camille.
		Bowen, Elizabeth, 1899-1973.
		Brooks, Van Wyck, 1886-1963.
		Browne, Ellen van Volkenburg.
		Burtt, Edwin A. (Edwin Arthur), 1892- .
		Caetani, Marguerite.
		Cage, John.
		Cahill, James, 1926- .
		Campbell, Joseph, 1904- .
		Canfield, Cass, 1897- .
		Carmer, Carl Lamson, 1893- .
		Cerf, Bennett, 1898-1971.
		Chakravarti, Amiya Chandra.
		Childs, Marquis William, 1903- .
		Collins, Priscilla.
		Collins, William.
		Cooke, Hope, 1940- .
		Cooper, Merian C.
		Cornish, Nellie Centennial, 1876-1956.
		Courtney, Marguerite, 1904- .
		Cousins, Margaret, 1905- .
		Cowley, Malcolm, 1898- .
		de Schulthess, Fritz.
		de Schulthess, Monica.
		Dinesen, Isak, 1885-1962.
		Douglas, William O. (William Orville), 1898- .
		Edel, Leon, 1907- .
		Elmhirst, Dorothy Whitney.
		Elmhirst, Leonard Knight, 1893-1974.
		Elmhirst, William K.
		Ernst, Alice Henson, 1880-1980.
		Forster, E.M. (Edward Morgan), 1879-1970.
		Galbraith, John Kenneth, 1908- .
		Gandhi, Indira, 1917-1984.
		Ginsberg, Allen, 1926- .
		Giroux, Robert.
		Goldberg, Bertrand, 1913- .
		Graham, Aelred, 1907- .
		Graham, Martha.
		Graves, Morris, 1910- .
		Gropius, Walter, 1883-1969.
		Guthrie, Tyrone, Sir, 1900-1971.
		Hale, Nancy, 1908- .
		Haydn, Hiram Collins, 1907-1973.
		Heard, Gerald, 1889-1971.
		Henderson, Joseph L. (Joseph Lewis), 1903- .
		Hill, Jerome, 1905-1972.
		Hollins, Elizabeth Jay.
		Howe, Helen Huntington, 1905- .
		Humphreys, Christmas, 1901- .
		Huxley, Aldous, 1894-1963.
		Johnson, Lady Bird, 1912- .
		Johnson, Philip, 1906- .
		Kandinsky, Wassily, 1866-1944.
		Keblish, Peg Wilson.
		Keene, Donald.
		Klee, Paul, 1879-1940.
		Knopf, Alfred, 1892-1984.
		Knopf, Blanche, 1894-1966.
		Kramrisch, Stella, 1898- .
		Laise, Carol C.
		Landry, Lionel.
		Laughlin, James, 1914- .
		Lavin, Mary, 1912- .
		Lewis, C.S. (Clive Staples), 1898-1963.
		Lindbergh, Anne Morrow, 1906- .
		Lowell, Robert, 1917-1977.
		Lührs, Armin.
		Lührs, Mira.
		Margo, 1918?-1985.
		Mellon, Mary, 1905-1946.
		Mellon, Paul.
		Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968.
		Moore, Marianne, 1887-1972.
		Mumford, Lewis, 1895- .
		Murray, Henry Alexander, 1893- .
		Mus, Paul, 1902-1969.
		Norman, Dorothy, 1905- .
		Nu, U.
		Oakes, Maud, 1903- .
		Ober, Harold, 1881-1959.
		Odlin, Richard.
		Osborne, Robert.
		Palden Thondup Namgyal, Chogyal of Sikkim, 1923-
		Pallis, Marco, 1905- .
		Pandit, Vijaya Lakshmi, 1900- .
		Paw U, Richard.
		Radhakrishnan, S. (Sarvepalli), 1888-1975.
		Raine, Kathleen, 1908- .
		Rambova, Natacha.
		Read, Herbert Edward, Sir, 1893-1968.
		Robinson, Henry Morton, 1898-1961
		Rockefeller, Blanchette Hooker, 1909-
		Rockefeller, John D., 1906- .
		Roethke, Theodore, 1908-1963.
		Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962.
		Ross, Charles Walton.
		Roy, Sunil.
		Sasaki, Ruth Fuller.
		Scott, Paul, 1920- .
		Scott, Zachary.
		Sherbert, Paul C.
		Singh, Nirmaljit.
		Snyder, Gary.
		Stafford, Jean, 1915- .
		Stevens, Roger L.
		Stevens, Christine.
		Straight, Beatrice.
		Straight, Michael Whitney.
		Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro, 1870-1966.
		Suzuki, Shunryu, 1904- .
		Tate, Allen, 1899- .
		Terkel, Studs, 1912- .
		Thompson, William Irwin.
		Tobey, Mark.
		Valentin, Curt, 1902-1954.
		Vanderbilt, Gloria, 1924- .
		Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964.
		Vidal, Gore, 1925- .
		von Barnekow, Erik.
		Wadsworth, Cleomé Carroll.
		Watts, Alan, 1915-1973.
		Welty, Eudora, 1909- .
		Whitney, C.V. (Cornelius Vanderbilt), 1899- .
		Wilder, Thornton, 1897-1975.
		Wilkie, Margot.
		Willard, Marian, 1904- .
		Wood, Audrey, 1905- .
		Wright, Clifford.
		Young, Kenneth, 1916- .
		Young, Stanley, 1906-1975.
	Organizations
		Asia Society.
		C.V. Whitney Pictures, Inc.
		Harold Ober Associates.
		Martha Graham Foundation.
		San Francisco Zen Center (San Francisco, Calif.).
		Tibetan Foundation.
	Subjects
		Dartington Hall (Totnes, England).
		American authors.
		Bauhaus.
		Buddhism.
		Frontier and pioneer life--The West.
		Hinduism.
		Women authors.
		Women--The West.
		Zen Buddhism.
		Asia--Religion.
	Document Types
		Drawings.
		Exhibition catalogs.
		Financial records.
		Galley proofs.
		Legal documents.
		Photographs.