Sherwood Ross Papers

Ross wrote most of his published and unpublished work during his career as a journalist. The earliest articles are those he produced between 1956 and 1957 for the New York Enquirer, where he was a features writer. His coverage for the Enquirer was eclectic but focused on the theater and sports, especially boxing, and many of his articles are profiles (with interviews) of individual actors, athletes and entertainers, along with some reportage on the milk industry and a stunt piece about flying in a jet plane. Following is his work for the Chicago Daily News, where he reported on urban renewal and city planning in the early 1960s, including the construction of Marina City and the Carl Sandburg Village, the redevelopment of Lincoln Park and the Chicago Housing Authority. In 1965-1966 he wrote a series of articles on global poverty, international trade and the United Nations for the Long Island Press and the Progressive. Both the Enquirer and the Chicago Daily News clippings are organized in the order of the scrapbooks in which he kept them.

Included in the collection are numerous opinion articles Ross contributed to newspapers, magazines and websites, such as commentary on the Obama administration, historical pieces for the Navy News (Virginia) and Humanist magazine and an article for the online Middle East Times about Iran.

Also represented are Ross’s two widely syndicated columns: “Law & Order,” which ran in 1979 and covered matters of crime, the prison system and personal safety; and “Workplace,” which ran from 1992 through 2002 on Reuters and focused on issues related to white-collar labor and the job market, including advice for companies and employees on office decorum, good management, discrimination, fair employment, sexual harassment and technology use. Also included are a short-lived column on colleges and universities, entitled “It’s All Academic,” and a column for King Features Syndicate similar in content to his earlier “Law & Order.”

Ross’s public relations work includes his articles for the Chicago Department of Water and Sewers (under the name of Commissioner James W. Jardine), the Chicago Urban League and the National Urban League (under the name of Executive Director Whitney M. Young), as well as speeches he wrote for Young and Mayor Richard J. Daley. Press releases Ross wrote for Senator George McGovern are also included.

Ross’s other non-journalistic work includes three historical plays, a short memoir about his childhood in Logan Square during World War II, a pamphlet he co-authored for the United Planning Organization (Washington, D.C.) and a collection of songs and poetry.

The bulk of material related to Ross’s media consulting and publicity firm takes the form of press releases, which Ross used to publicize upcoming articles in his clients’ magazines, and clippings from newspapers that “picked up” or quoted from the articles Ross promoted. While president of Sherwood Ross Associates, Ross also wrote a “Magazine Week” column for United Press International, drafts of which are included here. Correspondence with the circulation managers, editors and publishers of client magazines are also included, along with promotional materials for the firm itself, mailing labels for Ross’s contacts in the national media, a speech Ross delivered before the Magazine Promotion Group, a report on collegiate study-abroad programs in the U.S. commissioned by Kalamazoo College (then a client of Sherwood Ross Associates) and an issue of CooP music magazine containing an article by Ross on publicity.

Ross’s personal materials include his City News Bureau press credentials and a pamphlet about the Bureau’s history written by Ross’s former editor, A.A. Dornfeld. Several profiles of Ross and Sherwood Ross Associates are also included, along with one letter, written to Ross from Chicago journalist Dale Morrison.

The photograph of Richard J. Daley with Chicago Department of Water and Sewers Commissioner James W. Jardine, with Ross in the background, is from Ross’s time working as public affairs assistant for the Office of the Mayor (see: Box 1 Folder 1). The photograph of Ross with Boxer Kid Gavilan was taken for a New York Enquirer story (see: Box 3 Folder 34). The headshots accompanied Ross’s Reuters column, “Workplace” (see: Box 2 Folders 16-30).

Ross produced a weekly 15-minute radio program for the Chicago Urban League, entitled “Currently,” kept on open-reel tape. His broadcast work continued with the National Urban League, for whom he produced two 15-minute weekly programs in 1965: “The Leaders Speak,” containing an interview by Ross with a civil rights leader, and “Civil Rights Roundup,” containing a summary of related news; the two programs are organized together on a series of 33 1/3 rpm records. Interviewees include Mahlon T. Puryear, Mathew H. Ahmann and Cleve Robinson. Accompanying the records are press releases for two editions of “The Leaders Speak,” one with guest Bayard Rustin and the other with guests Herb Hill and Whitney M. Young (see: Box 6 Folder 103).

“The Great March” is Ross’s one-hour radio documentary about the 1963 March on Washington, which played Sunday, September 1, 1963 on WAAF-Chicago.