Phyllis Duganne, circa 1962

Phyllis Duganne (1899-1976) was born in Boston, descended from a long line of New England farmers and seagoing Cape Codders. She spent summers in Scituate with her aunt, Inez Haynes Irwin. Irwin was a well-known author, suffragist, and feminist, and in Scituate, Duganne was surrounded by artists and writers. Duganne worked in New York City as a short story writer from the 1920s to the 1950s. In 1919, she was one of "nine brilliant members of the Bobbed Hair Brigade of Greenwich Village who borned the buxom young magazine Judy" with Freda Kirchway, Margaret Sangster, and Jane Burr. Judy, which included poems by Duganne's aunt, Inez Haynes Irwin was promoted as a magazine for the modern woman and the men who wished to understand her. Duganne also published in Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, Colliers, and other magazines, and she published two novels, one of which was Prologue (1920). Love stories, often tragic, were her specialty. Duganne also wrote for young female readers, including a novel, Ruthie, and short stories for American Girl Magazine. Duganne also had some success as a writer for television and film. Her play Nice Girl was made into a movie in 1941, starring Deanna Durban. Duganne's first marriage was to a writer, Austin Parker. Their daughter Jane was born in 1920. Duganne divorced Parker when he became involved with Broadway actress and film star Miriam Hopkins. Duganne's second marriage was to Eben Given, an artist and author. They lived in Truro, Massachusetts, where Duganne continued to write, garden, and sail.

The bulk of the papers date from the 1920s to the 1940s, when Duganne was most prolific in her short story writing. Typescripts of Duganne's short stories comprise most of the collection, although there are also typescripts of five novels and a number of plays, all arranged alphabeltically when the title could be determined. From the 1920s' on, when Duganne was best known as a short story writer for leading women's magazines, such as Ladies Home Journal, Redbook Magazine, and Colliers, she produced many of the typescripts and related material in this collection. There are four issues of Judy, but little else related to the magazine or the "Bobbed Hair Brigade." Duganne's correspondence with her agent Carl Brandt from the late 1930s on reflects her somewhat successful attempt to break into the television and film writing industries. There are also five oversize scrapbooks, two containing newspaper clippings, and three more of published short stories.

This collection is organized into three series:

• I. Biographical Materials
• II. Correspondence
• III. Writings
• Oversize Materials
• Books on Shelf