Nancy Rubin Stuart papers (Ms.2005.025)

The Nancy Rubin Stuart papers contain research, notes and manuscript copies of the author's book- and article-length journalism. Her topics include motherhood, marriage, family, architectural preservation, and historical biography, and among her subjects are Marjorie Merriweather Post, Queen Isabella of Spain, Mercy Otis Warren and Margaret Fox. Professional correspondence and article queries are also included in the collection.

The papers are organized into seven series that correspond to the accession chronology.

Series 1 (1982-1994) contains research, primarily photocopies and notes (Box 1, 3) plus audiotaped interviews (Box 2), manuscript drafts (Boxes 1, 3), postpublication documents and correspondence (Box 3) relating to Rubin Stuart's book The New Suburban Woman (1982). This series also contains research, primarily photocopies and notes (Boxes 8-11) plus audiotaped interviews (Box 13), manuscript drafts (Boxes 4-7), postpublication documents and correspondence (Box 12) relating to the book The Mother Mirror (1984).

Series 2 (undated) contains research and manuscript drafts relating to Isabella of Castile : The first Renaissance queen (1991). Boxes 13 to 16 contain research materials, mostly photocopied. Boxes 18 to 21 contain chapter drafts and several copies of the completed manuscript. Box 17 contains additional research and manuscript material on 5 1/2" double sided, double density floppy disks. A manuscript copy of American Empress : The Life And Times Of Marjorie Merriweather Post (1995) is also included, along with a poster advertising one of the author's speaking appearances.

Series 3 (1986-2002) contains miscellaneous published works, including a print copy of the John Hays Hammond biography (Box 23) and manuscripts of various magazine articles. Also included are television and video scripts, most of them on architectural restoration, written for the A & E and HGTV networks (Box 23).

Series 4 (1979-1988) contains the research, interviews and manuscript for the John Hays Hammond biography (Boxes 24-25; also Box 23 for the print copy). Also included in this series are research notes for American Empress : The Life And Times Of Marjorie Merriweather Post (1995); this research is primarily photocopies of primary sources and is arranged roughly in chronological order of Marjorie's life (Boxes 26-32), followed by transcripts of interviews (Boxes 33-34), publisher correspondence and photographs (Boxes 34-35). (See Box 23 for the complete manuscript of the Post biography.) The last component of the series is a collection of Rubin Stuart's professional correspondence, article queries, and manuscripts of various magazine articles (Boxes 36-39).

Series 5 (undated) contains two copies of the manuscript of The Reluctant Spiritualist: The Life of Maggie Fox (2005), one identified as "final edit" (Box 39). (See Box 46 for additional copies.)

Series 6 (1992-1997) contains an edited version of Isabella of Castile : The first Renaissance queen (1991) (Box 41), along with the original proposal and publicity. Also within this series are various draft versions of The Muse of the Revolution: the Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation (2008) (Box 42). Further research notes, interviews and legal documents pertaining to American Empress : The Life And Times Of Marjorie Merriweather Post (1995) are in boxes 42 and 43. The remainder of the series comprises notes and magazine articles, mostly on the subject of parenthood, and several folders of Rubin Stuart's miscellaneous correspondence (Box 44).

Series 7 (1983-2007) contains drafts of The Muse of the Revolution: the Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation (2008)(Box 45). It also contains correspondence and files related to the publication and publicity for The Reluctant Spiritualist: The Life of Maggie Fox (2005) and earlier publications by Stuart including her book Club Dance: the Show, the Steps, the Spirit of Country(Box 46).