Includes holographs, typescripts, typescript carbons, mixed manuscripts, and galleys for more than thirty of Buck's published novels. Many address the topic of Chinese peasant life. Some works are represented by multiple drafts, and some include corrections and revisions by the author.

Highlights include: paged galleys of Buck's first novel, East Wind, West Wind; a typescript of Sons; original holograph and typescripts of The Patriot; typescripts of The Angry Wife, her only novel set in West Virginia and one of many written under the pseudonym John Sedges; and multiple drafts of Imperial Woman.

Additional drafts, outlines, and synopses for novels and novellas can also be found in Series 6, Other Works. Galleys and galley proofs can be found in Series 8, Oversized.

Includes typescripts, typescript carbons, mixed manuscripts, and holographs for eighteen of Buck's non-fiction works. Topics include Asia, the role of women in American society, racism, children's welfare, and adoption.

Highlights include:

multiple drafts and leather-bound presentations of Buck's manuscripts for the biographies of her parents -- The Exile and The Fighting Angel -- two novels that helped earn her the 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature;

a mixed manuscript of the book titled Of Men and Women;

typescripts of How it Happens;

multiple drafts of The Joy of Children; and

multiple drafts of her autobiographies, My Several Worlds and A Bridge for Passing.

Additional non-fiction works can be found in Series 6, Other Works. Galleys of non-fiction works can be found in Series 8, Oversized.

Includes typescript carbons, galleys, typescripts, mixed manuscripts, and holographs for eleven children's books, including The Big Fight, The Big Wave, and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Galleys can be found in Series 8, Oversized.

Includes two typescript drafts of All Men Are Brothers, Buck's translation of one of China's most famous novels, Shui Hu Chuan (also known as Water Margin or Shui Hu Zhuan). A brochure advertising this book can be found in Series 6, Other Works, box 70, folder 279.7.

Includes typescripts, typescript carbons, holographs, and mixed manuscripts of short stories from nine of Buck's anthologies. Some of the anthologies were published posthumously. Some entries include the periodical in which the various short stories appeared; please note that this is not indicative of a systematic search. Additional short stories can be found in Series 6, Other Works. A magazine clipping has been moved to Series 8, Oversized.

Includes holographs, typescripts, typescript carbons, clippings, and mixed manuscripts of published and unpublished short stories, articles, dramas/plays, novels, novellas, non-fiction works, reviews, speeches, introductions, forewords, letters, press releases, radio broadcasts, and interviews, among other material. The majority of this series is Buck's own work.

Subjects include China and its people; writing; women; international relations and war; America and its people; India; Japan; mentally handicapped children (the contemporary term, retarded, is used in the contents list); mixed race children; the Vineland Training School; the Welcome House; adoption; and many more. Two published short stories have been moved to Series 8, Oversized.

Highlights include:

a January 1923 issue of the journal The Atlantic Monthly, containing Buck's first published article, "In China, Too" (box 70, folder 282);

a typescript introduction to The Good Earth, 1949 (box 63, folder 254.1);

a holograph introduction to a series of shortwave radio broadcasts, written by Buck in Chinese characters (with romanizations in typescript) (box 50, folder 196.1);

a holograph of an untitled radio broadcast, written by Buck in Chinese characters (with romanizations in typescript) (box 51, folder 202); and

typescripts and typescript carbons of the autobiographical short story "My Chinese Nurse" (box 33, folders 134.1-134.3).

Includes exhibit materials, typescripts, clippings, correspondence, ephemera, printed material, photographs, and other material. Subjects include the appraisal and cataloging of collection materials by Frances and Kenneth Swope, Mary Lee Welliver, and Robert Shafer; the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation and preservation of Buck's birthplace in Hillsboro, WV; celebratory centennial events in 1992; Pearl S. Buck; and her works. The majority of the contents of this series was created by people other than Buck, though it includes a few facsimiles and printed versions of Buck's work.

Highlights include:

typescripts written about Buck by Lucille S. Zinn, bibliographer for the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation (box 72, folder 302.1-302.2), who went on to publish "The Works of Pearl S. Buck: A Bibliography" (box 73, folder 305.1);

records regarding the Pearl S. Buck commemorative stamp (various folders in boxes 73-76); and

a cassette tape of an interview with Pearl S. Buck conducted by Arnold Gingrich, October 12, 1970 (box 76, folder 365).

Biographical material on Buck can be found in box 73, folder 320; box 74, folders 323 and 338; box 75, folder 349; and others.

Although now substantially superseded by the current cataloging record in terms of both completeness and detail, the Mary Lee Welliver collection guide, within her graduate thesis, has been retained in this collection for future reference (see box 71, folder 284). Within her guide, Welliver cataloged the drafts of published books within the collection (series 1-5). Within these series, she lists the works alphabetically, and the drafts of each work in rough chronological order. (A version of our contents list in this cataloging record, found below, arranged in the same order as the contents list in Welliver's thesis, is available in box 71, folder 284.) Regarding the chronological order in her guide, Welliver notes that, "In a few cases, the order has been very difficult to ascertain without a more critical study of the manuscripts. This study is left to future researchers and an 'educated guess' has been made as to chronology in such cases" (Welliver thesis, p. 21).

Welliver also created data sheets for each work she cataloged, which are available in box 71, folders 293.1-293.4, and box 72, folders 294.1- 294.2. These data sheets include information not recorded in either the contents list found in this cataloging record, or in the Welliver thesis, such as type and size of paper and notations from original envelopes or folders.

Boxes 83-86 include the original container envelopes for most of the collection; the notations on these envelopes regarding specifics about their contents, such as page numbers, may be of interest to future researchers. Not all of this information is present in the contents list.