University of Oregon Libraries
Special Collections & University Archives
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1299
URL: http://libweb.uoregon.edu/speccoll/index.html



Guide to the Ruth Cornwall Woodman Papers, 1913-1916


Ax 690





Finding aid prepared by Vida Germano.

Finding aid encoded by Vida Germano, February 2004
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.


Overview of the Collection

 
Repository Name:
 

University of Oregon Libraries
Special Collections & University Archives

1299 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1299
URL: http://libweb.uoregon.edu/speccoll/index.html

 
Collection Number:
 

Ax 690

 
Creator:
 

Woodman, Ruth C., 1894-1970

 
Title:
 

Ruth Cornwall Woodman Papers

 
Dates:
 

1913-1916, 1930-1969 (inclusive)

 
Quantity:
 

12 linear feet
8 containers

 
Languages:
 

Collection materials are in English. 

 
Summary:
 

The Ruth Cornwall Woodman Papers include radio and television scripts for "Death Valley Days," and other television scripts and miscellaneous papers, 1914-1916, 1930-1969. The collection includes scripts and associated material for 204 "Death Valley Days" radio and television programs, an index to the scripts, notebooks from summer research trips, and correspondence with Death Valley acquaintances. There is also research data and a draft for The History of the Pacific Coast Borax Company, which was published in greatly reduced form. Correspondence includes copies of forty-six letters written from Vassar College, 1914-1916, and correspondence with agents and publishers.

 

Biographical Note

Ruth Cornwall Woodman was born on November 26, 1894 and raised in England. She received a degree from Vassar in 1916 and was part of Phi Beta Kappa. Her first job was with the Century Company, as secretary to the editor of St. Nicholas Magazine, whose position she expected to take over within a short time. When Ruth learned that several employees who had been with the company for over thirty years expected to receive the position, she looked for other work. This search landed her in Turkey, where she worked with an American organization on a survey of Constantinople after World War I. Spending the winter of 1921-22 in Constantinople, she taught English to refugee boys and served as amanuensis to the head of the Language School for missionaries in Scutari. Ruth Woodman traveled from Constantinople to Egypt, India, and China before returning to New York City.

Woodman's first article about Turkey appeared in the New York Times Magazine Section, from which she made forty dollars. A vice president of the H. K. McCann advertising agency read it and offered her a job with the company as copywriter. She wrote magazine and newspaper copy for five years. In 1928, she began writing for radio, turning out scripts for DuPont's "Calvalcade of America" and Bob Ripley's "Believe It Or Not."

"Death Valley Days," true stories of the West, began on September 30, 1930 and Woodman was selected as its writer. The program's sponsor, Pacific Coast Borax Company, stipulated that the writer should have a first-hand knowledge of the Death Valley region and for fourteen years, as the radio program ran until July of 1945, Woodman made summer excursions to Death valley to gather material. Her first trip was in a Model A Ford, where she gathered interviews from people in Death Valley and research local newspaper files. She was accompanied by W. W. (Wash) Cahill, an employee of the company and an expert on the desert. The majority of her story material came from interviews with old-timers and from the files of mining camp newspapers.

The series was renamed "Death Valley Sheriff," airing from August 10, 1944 to June 21, 1945. The name was then changed to "The Sheriff" and aired from June 29, 1945 to September 14, 1951. After this point, the series aired in reruns under different titles, including "Call of the West," Frontier Adventure," "The Pioneers," "Trails West," and "Western Star Theatre."

In 1952, the "Death Valley Days," radio series had proved so successful that in 1952, the sponsor asked Woodman to adapt the stories for television. Woodman wrote all of the television plays for five years. When the series opened up to other writers, Woodman served as story editor, and continued to write scripts for the series. "Death Valley Days" won awards from the Governors of California, Nevada, and Utah and historical societies including the Native Daughters of the Golden West, and from the University of Washington. In 1961, Woodman received the Western Heritage Award for the best Western Documentary of the year.

During her career with "Death Valley Days," Woodman continued to write for other radio programs, including "Dr. Christian," Suspense," and "Armstrong Theatre of Today." She also continued to write for print media and sold articles to The New Yorker and Reader's Digest about people and places she was familiar with.

Ruth Cornwall married William E. Woodman and lived most of her life in Rye, New York. She had two children, William Jr. and Winthrop. The family made several trips to Europe. In October of 1961, Woodman moved away from Hollywood to Europe and lived there for a year. She kept notebooks of her travels, writing mostly about Turkey. Ruth Woodman died on April 22, 1970 at the age of 75 in Santa Monica, California.

Content Description

The Ruth Cornwall Woodman collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, and miscellaneous material. Topics include Vassar college, European travels, radio scripts, television scripts, and the Pacific Coast Borax Company.

Series I. Correspondence includes personal and business letters. There is a section of letters from the Pacific Coast Borax Company. Copies of forty-six letters from Ruth Woodman to her family while she attended Vassar, and 142 letters from her son are included in the collection.

Series II. Manuscripts is composed of five subseries. The subseries of book length material includes research material, correspondence, and manuscripts on the Pacific Coast Borax Company and her travels to Turkey. The travel book on Turkey was not published. The subseries of plays includes "If Walls Could Speak." The subseries of screenplays includes "Last of the Pony Express." The subseries of radio and television includes "Armstrong Circle Theatre," "Man Talk," "Death Valley Days," "Romance of American Industry," and "The Honor of Your Presence." The subseries on article length material includes two folders of articles.

The "Death Valley Days" material comprises the bulk of the collection. This subseries is arranged chronologically by radio script date, with the television scripts and research material for a related radio script in the same folder as the original radio script date. All but two of the "Death Valley days" television scripts in the collection are revisions of earlier radio plays. The "Death Valley days" material in the collection includes twenty-nine notebooks from the summer trips, five folder of research material, a bound index of the radio scripts, correspondence from the Death Valley acquaintances, and seventy-two folders of scripts and associated material from 204 radio and television programs.

Ruth Woodman's commissioned history of the Pacific Coast Borax Company is also part of the collection. While it was published in a much reduced form, the materials in the collection includes research materials, company correspondence, and a rough draft. These materials are of interest because of the close relationship between the company and "Death Valley Days."

Series III. Miscellaneous includes one folder of newspaper clippings and articles, Woodman's 1913 diary from Vassar College, and two volumes of True Stories from Death Valley Days.

Arrangement

Collection is organized into the following series: Series I. Correspondence; Series II. Manuscripts; Series III. Miscellaneous.

Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available 

Collection is also available on microfilm in Special Collections & University Archives.

Restrictions on Access 

Collection is open to the public.

Collection must be used in Special Collections & University Archives Reading Room.

Restrictions on Use 

Property rights reside with Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to the Manuscripts Librarian in Special Collections & University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation 

[Identification of item], Ruth Cornwall Woodman Papers, Ax 690, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.

Subjects

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.

 
Woodman, Ruth C., 1894-1970--Archives
Woodman, Ruth C., 1894-1970--Travel
Borax Consolidated, ltd.
Pacific Coast Borax Company
Death Valley (Calif. and Nev.)
Turkey--Description and travel
Borax mines and mining--Pacific Coast (U.S.)
Television writers--United States
Western stories
Women authors, American--20th century
Women radio writers--United States
Manuscripts for publication
Radio scripts
Screenplays
Television scripts
Death Valley days (Radio program)
Death Valley days (Television program)

Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.


 

Series I:  Correspondence

 
Container(s)
Description
Dates
 
box
1
folder
1

Vassar letters: Outgoing
  1914-1916
 
2
Vassar letters: Outgoing
  1914-1916
 
45 letters
 
3
Outgoing Correspondence
  1941-1970
 
71 letters
   
Incoming Correspondence
 
 
4
Autry, Gene, Productions. (Armand Schaefer)
  1952
 
3 letters
 

Brown, Curtis, LTd. (Literary agency) (Edith Haggard)
  1962-1963
 
6 letters
 

Communications Counselors Inc. (Jack Kennett)
  1957
 
1 letter
 

Crowell, Thomas Y., Company
  1941
 
1 letter
 

Cummins, Dwight
  1952
 
2 letters
 

Downey, Fairfax
  1941
 
2 letters
 

French, Iola. (Mrs. Chester Odlin) (Literary agent)
  1967
 
8 letters
 

Gerstley, Adele. (Mrs. James)
  1967
 
2 letters
 

Glover, Deborah N.
  1969
 
2 letters
 

Knopf, Alfred A., Inc. (William A. Koshland)
  1968
 
1 letter
 

Lester, Gerry. (Mrs. Dudley G.)
  1968-1969
 
5 letters
 

Luce, Robert B., Inc. (Publisher) (Peter Andrews)
  1966
 
2 letters
 

MacDonald, Pirie
 
 
1 letter
 

McIntosh and Otis, Inc. (Mary Squire Abbot) (Literary agency)
  1963-1966
 
11 letters
 

Miller, Douglas J.
  1967
 
1 letter
 

New York Times
  1967
 
1 letter
 

New Yorker
  1958-1959
 
7 letters
 

Reader's Digest (Paul Palmer, John M. Allen, Frank J. Taylor)
  1959-1965, 1968-1969
 
20 letters
 

Strom, Erling
  1967, 1969, 1970
 
9 letters
 

Taylor, Frank J.
  1959
 
2 letters
 

Tozzer, Isabel
 
 
1 letter
 

Venture (Magazine) (Jean Anderson, Maya Yates)
  1966-1969
 
5 letters
 

Woodman, William Jr. (son)
  1959-1967
 
Seperate folder

142 letters
 

Woolman, Ellen Kay
  1966
 
1 letter
 
5
Pacific Coast Borax Company (regarding commemorative booklet)
 

 

Series II:  Manuscripts

 
Container(s)
Description
Dates
   
Subseries A:  Book Length
 
   
Pacific Coast Borax Company
 
 
box
1
folder
6

"Death Valley Days"
  1937
 
107 pages
Mimeographed draft. Bound. Chapter 5-18 in outline form. Copyright by McCann-Erickson, Inc.
 
7
Research Material
 
 
8
Research Material
 
 
9
Research Material
 
 
10
Research Material
 
 
11
Correspondence with Company regarding history
 
 
12
Research Material
 
 
13
Research Material
 
 
14
Outline (typed and carbon)
 
 
40 pages
   
Pacific Coast Borax History
 
 
Manuscript
 
15
Chapter I: The Discovery at Teel's Marsh
 
 
16
Chapter II: History of Boray, Prior to Teel's Marsh Discovery
 
 
17
Chapter III: The Nevada Marsh Operations, 1872-1888
 
 
18
Chapter IV: Death Valley, 1880-1888
 
 
19
Chapter V: The Twenty Mule Teams
 
 
20
Chapter VI: The Scene Shifts
 
 
21
Chapter VII: The Camp at Borate
 
 
22
Chapter VIII: The Gay and Busy '90s
 
 
23
Chapter IX: The Building of the T and T Railroad
 
 
24
Chapter X: The Lila C
 
 
25
Chapter XI: Bayonne
 
 
26
Chapter XII: The Sterling Borax Company-Lang
 
 
27
Chapter XIII: Smith's Failure
 
 
28
Chapter XIV: New Ryan
 
 
29
Chapter XV: Death Valley Junction
 
 
30
Chapter XVI: Suckow Chemical Company
 
 
31
Chapter XVII: Borosolvay
 
 
32
Chapter XVIII: White Basin
 
 
33
Chapter XIX: More Mines and Less
 
 
34
Chapter XX: Wilmington
 
 
35
Chapter XXI: Discovery of Rasorite
 
 
Chapter XXII missing
 
2 1
Chapter XXIII: Advertising the Twenty Mule Team Products
 
 

Chapter XXIV: Present Day
 
   
Why Turkey? Journeys in Anatolia
 
 
Working title of unpublished travel history
 
3
Research material
 
 
The following research material is arranged in subject files by author. Includes notebooks, notes, fragments of rough draft, correspondence, pamphlets.
 
4
Maps
 
 
5
Notebooks
 
 
6
Notebooks
 
 
7
Notebooks
 
   
1963 Trip
 
 
8
Itinerary
 
 

Expense account
 
 

Miscellaneous
 
 

Addresses
 
 
9
Izmir
 
 
10
Pergamum
 
 
11
Troy (Canakkale)
 
 
12
Anatolia
 
 
13
Nicaea
 
 
14
Istanbul-Hagia Sophia
 
 
15
Princes Island-Üsküdar
 
 
16
Istanbul-Stamboul
 
 
17
Seraglio
 
 
18
Byzantine Relics
 
 
19
Istanbul
 
 
History, includes maps
 
20
Black Sea
 
 
21
Ionia
 
 
22
Ephesus
 
 
23
Edrine
 
 
24
Across the Tarus
 
 
25
Outline and schedule
 
 
26
Bibliography
 
 
27
Preface and Chapter 1
 
 
28
Bosphorus
 
 
29
Golden Horn
 
 
30
Constantaninople history
 
 
31
Istanbul-Walls
 
 
32
Istanbul-Galata Pera
 
 
33
Konya
 
 
34
Aegean, Priene, Miletus, Didyma, Sardis
 
 
35
Ürgüp and Göreme
 
 
36
Kayseri and Göreme Ürgüp
 
 
37
Hittites
 
 
38
Bursa
 
 
39
Ankara
 
 
40
Amasya and Sivas
 
 
41
Turkish food
 
 
42
Southwest Mediterranean Coast, St. Nicholas, Myra, Halicarnassus
 
 
43
Pamukkale
 
 
44
Alanya
 
 
45
Alanya, Perge, Aspendos
 
 
46
Side
 
 
47
Northeast corner of Mediterranean
 
 
48
Antakya
 
 
49
S. S. Tari, Mediterranean Coast
 
 
50
Clippings and miscellaneous notes
 
 
51
Turkish correspondence
 
 
3 1
Anatolian Holiday
  1963
 
65 pages
Manuscript of first version (typed partial manuscript)
 
2
Talking Turkey
  1966
 
44 pages, typed draft; 46 pages, carbon draft
Manuscript of second version
 
3
Why Turkey
  1967
 
315 pages
Manuscript of third version
   
Subseries B:  Play
 
 
4
If Walls Could Speak
 
 
"Dramatic presentation in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of Rye Seminary, now Rye Country Day School."
 
5
If Walls Could Speak
  1967
 

Miscellaneous material
 
 
5 pieces
 

Notes
 
 
1 notebook; 49 loose pages
 

First draft
 
 
90 pages, holograph
   
Subseries C:  Screen play
 
 
7
Last of the Pony Express
  1953
 
Gene Autry Production No. 8188, Columbia Pictures Corporation
 

Notes
 
 
11 pages
 

Fragments
 
 
8 pages, carbon
 

Draft
 
 
31 pages, carbon
 

Final draft
 
 
90 pages
   
Subseries D:  Radio and Television Scripts
 
 

Armstrong Circle Theatre
 
 

Man talk, television script
 
 

Man talk, synopsis, typed
 
 
3 pages
 

Man talk, draft, carbon
  <