Drachman-Taylor family papers

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.