Papers, 1875-1996 (bulk 1920-1975). This
collection is comprised of the papers of John and Rosemary (Drachman)
Winchcombe-Taylor. The bulk of the material relates to their lengthy literary
careers. The collection includes personal and professional correspondence,
published and unpublished manuscripts, short stories, adaptations, plays,
articles and speeches. Also included ais research material, legal papers,
publicity material, business and personal photographs, negatives and slides,
business and personal scrapbooks and recordings of literary events, and
personal record albums. The collection also contains a small amount of material
relating to other members of the Drachman family.
Collection Number
Call Number MS 413
Languages Represented
English
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
Biographical Note
Rosemary (Drachman) Winchcombe-Taylor who came from a prominent Arizona
pioneer family was born in Phoenix, Arizona and moved to Tucson, AZ as a child.
She attended the University of Arizona and went on to graduate from Stanford
University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1922. After graduation she traveled to
Europe. There she met Floyd Gibbons, an American war correspondent, who helped
her begin her literary career as a war correspondent. She traveled with him to
Morocco and covered the Riff War for various newspapers including the Tucson
Citizen. Ms. Winchcombe-Taylor wrote throughout her childhood and college, but
she began publishing while covering the war. In the 1930s she returned to
Tucson, AZ and married author John Winchcombe-Taylor in 1934.
John Winchcombe-Taylor, born into an acting family, was an American
citizen raised in England. He enlisted in the British military in 1914 and
retired as a captain in 1919. In 1924 he returned to the United States. He
wrote adventure stories for various magazines in the 1920s and 1930s as well as
acted under the stage name Jamison Reilly with his brother.
In 1939 at the start of World War II, Mr. Winchcombe-Taylor joined the
Canadian military and served as a training officer before retiring with the
rank of Major in 1943. Ms. Winchcombe-Taylor lived alternately between Tucson,
AZ and with Mr. Winchcombe-Taylor in Canada. During this time, Ms.
Winchcombe-Taylor began work on her first novel, Chicken Every Sunday, which
was about her childhood and her mother's business of taking in boarders. The
novel became a bestseller and was later adapted for both the stage and film.
After the War, the couple returned to Tucson and continued their literary
career with Rosemary Winchcombe-Taylor publishing eight novels and a number of
short stories and articles. Many were based on her childhood and family. John
Winchcombe-Taylor published a historical novel, Ram, and a number of articles,
short stories and plays including several based on Ms. Winchcombe-Taylor's
books. He also helped organize Vanguard (1944-1948), an association which
promoted the interests of Americans who served with British forces in World War
I and World War II. Ms. Winchcombe-Taylor wrote under the names of Rosemary
Drachman, Rosemary Drake and for her novels, Rosemary Taylor. Mr.
Winchcombe-Taylor wrote under the names J. Winchcombe-Taylor and Winchcombe
Taylor and acted under the name Jamison Reilly.
Scope and Content Note
Papers, 1875-1996 (bulk 1920-1975). This collection consists of the
papers of authors John and Rosemary (Drachman) Winchcombe-Taylor. The bulk of
the papers contains personal and professional correspondence, published and
unpublished manuscripts, short stories, plays, articles, speeches, and
adaptations of their writings. The collection also includes photographs and
scrapbooks relating to their personal lives and literary careers. A small
amount of material within the collection is related to additional members of
the Drachman family, primarily biographical material, correspondence,
photographs and scrapbooks. Manuscripts titles often appear in other forms of
writing as Rosemary Winchcombe-Taylor's writings were adapted for the stage,
film, radio and serials.
Organization
This collection is organized into 7 series, with 16 subseries.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish
from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record,
the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The
user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the
University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all
claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of
copyright.
This series contains biographical materials associated with John and
Rosemary Winchcombe-Taylor. It includes certificates, news clippings, material
relating to their estate as well as materials related to the military career of
John Winchcombe-Taylor. The "Drachman Family-General" folder contains materials
associated with additional members of the Drachman family particularly Rosemary
Winchcombe-Taylor's immediate family including Drachman family trees.
Business (1942-1978) contains correspondence between the
Winchcombe-Taylors and various publishers, agents, authors, producers and fans
relating to their literary works. Also included is correspondence related to
literary research and promotion.
Personal (1875-1979) contains correspondence primarily between John
and Rosemary Winchcombe-Taylor and family, friends and political figures. It
also includes correspondence between members of the Drachman family and others.
Of note - is correspondence that Rosemary Winchcombe-Taylor wrote that doubled
as a personal journal.
This series contains the published and unpublished writings of John
and Rosemary Winchcombe-Taylor. The Writings Series is divided into ten
subseries:
Manuscripts (1943-1975) contains drafts and galleys of unpublished
and published manuscripts.
Adaptations (1943-1970) contains film, radio, newspaper and magazine
adaptations of several of Rosemary Winchcombe-Taylor's novels. Several
adaptations are in foreign languages including German and Spanish.
Short Stories (1927-1956) contains published and unpublished short
stories.
Plays (1921-1959) contains plays written primarily by John
Winchcombe-Taylor. Also included in this subseries are plays adapted from Ms.
Winchcombe-Taylor's novels by Mr. Winchcombe-Taylor and other playwrights.
Articles (1925-1971) contains published and unpublished articles
Speeches (1951-1972) contains various speeches given by Rosemary
Winchcombe-Taylor.
Research Files (1932-1963) contains research materials with the bulk
of the material compiled by John Winchcombe-Taylor.
Legal Files (1943-1977) contains contracts, copyright and royalty
statements.
Publicity Files (1925-1972) contains publicity material. It includes
flyers, biographical statements, lectures series information, publisher
catalogs and news clippings.
Miscellaneous (1914-1984) contains miscellaneous writings,
illustrations, book plates, observations and notes. Also includes Rosemary
Winchcombe- Taylor's journals
This series contains photographs, negatives and slides. It is
divided into two subseries:
Business (1929-1954) contains photographs, negatives and slides of
John and Rosemary Winchcombe-Taylor including professional headshots, images
from films and plays of several of Ms. Winchcombe-Taylor's novels and publicity
photographs. Also included are photographs of two of Oliver Drachman's
businesses.
Personal (1898-1996) contains photographs of John and Rosemary
Winchcombe- Taylor and other members of the Drachman and Winchcombe-Taylor
families. Also included are photographs of Alice (West) Drachman's family, the
Colliers and Wests. Also included are images of various Drachman residences and
Rosemary Winchcombe-Taylor's travels in Morocco.
This series (1903-1996) contains personal and professional
scrapbooks relating to the Drachman family and John and Rosemary
Winchcombe-Taylor's literary careers. It is divided into two subseries:
Business (1943-1962) contains scrapbooks of news clippings related
to several of John and Rosemary Winchcombe-Taylor's novels.
Personal (1903-1974) contains scrapbooks of news clippings,
correspondence and photographs primarily relating to members of the Drachman
Family.
This series contains oversize items from various series and
subseries including the biographical files, writings series (short stories,
research files, publicity files, illustrations) and photographs both business
and personal.
