Scope and Content Note
The papers of Ruby Aurora Black (1896-1957) span the years 1916-1976, with the bulk from 1933-1945. The collection consists of correspondence, writings, subject files, clippings, photographs, and other papers chiefly relating to Black's coverage as a journalist of Eleanor Roosevelt's White House years and her book Eleanor Roosevelt published in 1940. Included are letters from Roosevelt as well as research files and correspondence showing the unfolding of the writing project. There are reports of interviews, correspondence with editors and informants, and insights into the promotion of the biography.
Files relating to Black’s work in the Office of the Coordinator of Inter American Affairs in the 1940s include exchanges with the coordinator, Nelson Rockefeller, and other United States officials and Latin American political figures.
Although there is little in the collection about the final decade of her life, a small amount of family correspondence and some fragments of reminiscence shed light on Black’s long career as a journalist.