Millicent, Smith [aka Mildred Katharine Smith] (fl. circa 1930)
Archive of Scripts, Stories, Correspondence & Ephemera, including Material related to Zane Grey.

California, circa 1900-1950.

Approximately one linear foot of material, including typed manuscripts with handwritten changes made by Smith, several unpublished, along with other material, viz., typed manuscripts of the following published and unpublished works: An End to Madness; The Reckoning; New Eden; The Path of Glory; Spindrift; Port of Call; The Counting of Stephen; some written under Smith's nom de plume, Avon Hardy; manuscript for a story by Romer Grey entitled Three Bears; approximately 40 photos including several of Smith with Zane Grey and taken in the wilderness and at Grey's properties; correspondence addressed to Grey from authors and publishers; correspondence from Zane and Dorothy Grey including 5 telegrams from Grey, a contract between Grey & Smith giving her rights to their co-written play, Port of Call, dated 1932; a letter from Dorothy requesting that Smith relinquish her copyright to The Water Hole, and other telegrams sent from Grey to Smith; a small collection of approximately 50 letters sent to Smith by family and colleagues; a folder containing drawings of Kachina dolls and other Native American-themed decorative motifs; approximately 40 letters from film studios (mostly Worcester Film Corporation) discussing Smith's submission of film treatments; [and] several playbill advertising Smith's produced plays.

Smith worked as an author in her own right, a collaborator with Zane Grey, and as his secretary, traveling companion, and likely romantic partner. She left the arrangement in the early 1930s and visited Tahiti to gather material for a work of fiction.

Smith is mentioned in Zane Grey's son Loren's 1986 book, Zane Grey: A Photographic Odyssey. In it, Smith is described as Grey's longtime friend, travel companion, collaborator and a research specialist. In Altadena, CA, Grey built a house for Mildred near his own, both residences brimming with a burgeoning collection of Native American artifacts acquired by Smith and the Greys during their nine years in Arizona in the 1920s. At Grey's death, Smith inherited his collection of artifacts, which then passed to her husband, Harry Johnson, and then to their friend Herbert Ryman, who sold the collection in the 1970s. [See also: Jim Vickers & Ed Myers's article entitled, A Special Friendship: Zane Grey and Mildred Smith, in the Zane Grey Quarterly 1, no. 4 [Winter 1992].

Condition
For inquiries about condition, please contact:
Devon Eastland, Senior Specialist: deastland@swanngalleries.com
Grace Meschery-McCormack, Cataloguer: gmccormack@swanngalleries.com