The Ruth Stephan Papers consist of correspondence, writings, research files, audiovisual material, photographs, and diaries and other personal papers documenting the career and life of the twentieth-century American writer, editor, and translator Ruth Stephan. Correspondence and subject files provide evidence of Stephan's professional and personal relationships as well as her wide-ranging interests, from art to Zen Buddhism. Stephan's creative work consists of drafts, notes, and research files for poetry, historical and autobiographical fiction, anthologies, and film; her research files on Queen Christina of Sweden are extensive. Her travels in and creative work related to Europe, Peru, Japan, China, and India are documented throughout the collection by writings, diaries and engagement calendars, photographs, film, sound recordings, and correspondence. The papers also include a small amount of material documenting the history of the Walgreens drugstore chain.