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William L. Worden (1910-1982) was born in Koshkonong, Missouri. His family moved to Fort Scott, Kansas, where Worden attended public schools. After graduating from Drake University in 1930, he joined the staff of the Omaha Bee-News as a reporter. After a brief stint in Omaha, Worden worked for various papers eventually landing at the Knoxville Tennessee Journal, where he served on the copy-desk, as Sunday editor, and as writer of a column, "Gay Talk", clippings of which are included in the collection.
Worden settled in the Pacific Northwest in 1933, working in newspapers and advertising in Portland, Oregon. From 1934 to 1944, he was an Associated Press correspondent in their San Francisco, Tacoma, Olympia, and Seattle offices. Worden also served as a war correspondent in Alaska and the Pacific. He covered the Pacific front for the Saturday Evening Post from 1944 to the conclusion of the war.
After World War II, Worden became a free lance writer, living in Tacoma and specializing in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Western Canada. He wrote both journalism and fiction about these regions.
At the outbreak of the Korean conflict, Worden again signed on with the Saturday Evening Post as a contract writer in Korea and Japan for two years. In 1952, he returned to free-lancing as a regular contributor to the Post and other major magazines. Writings from this period show a fascination with "motor-yachting" in the Puget Sound-Western Canada-Inland Passage area. In 1959, Worden joined Boeing in Seattle, serving variously as Boeing Magazine's supervisor, financial writer, and International Public Relations manager. Copies of two Boeing Magazine articles are included in the collection.
Worden died in Washington in 1982.
The collection is organized into two major sections, the initial collection dating to 1971, and addenda of 1982.
The 1971 materials consist of correspondence, manuscripts, tearsheets, and clippings.
Correspondence consists of outgoing and incoming letters from 1944 to 1964. Major correspondents include D. E. Barbey and Dolly Connelly, as well as Brandt & Brandt (a New York literary agency) and the Saturday Evening Post.
The manuscripts are mainly magazine articles, including one unpublished article titled "A quiet place to stay", as well as two short stories.
The clippings consist of two unsorted folders of Worden's columns and news stories.
The 1982 addenda consists of manuscripts of and research for Worden's book Cargoes: Matson's First Century in the Pacific, a history of the first hundred years of the Matson Navigation Company. The research materials include interview records, correspondence, and brochures, among other materials, related to Matson Navigation Company.