Nancy W. Ferrell is the author of several books for young readers and adults, of fiction and nonfiction in children's magazines, and adult nonfiction in magazines. She was born August 23, 1932, in Appleton, Wisconsin, to Carolyn (Schael) Burg and Harry Warren. After graduating from high school in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, she went on to receive a bachelor's degree in psychology from Lawrence College, where she was a member of Delta Gamma. Upon her graduation, her mother, Carolyn, who married Amos Burg, and had recently moved to Juneau, sent her an airline ticket to Alaska. Nancy moved to Juneau in the summer of 1954 and found her lifelong home. Soon thereafter, she met C. Edgar Ferrell, and the two were married on March 3, 1955. Nancy and Ed became parents to twins, Patricia and William, in 1966.

Nancy practiced psychology, taught grade school, and worked in public and school libraries. Nancy was a 1992 U.S. judge for the Golden Kite Award, reviewed new children's books for publishers, and was a reviewer for the International Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She resided in Juneau, Alaska, from the early 1960s until her death April 10, 2009. From the Juneau Empire obituary and information supplied by the Ferrells. For more biographical information, see Box 1, Folder 2 of this collection.

Barrett Willoughby (died 1959), also known as Florence Barrett, was a best-selling novelist of romantic fiction and nonfiction set in Alaska from the 1920s through the 1940s. Barrett Willoughby authored Sitka, Portal to Romance (1930), Spawn of the North (1932), Alaskans All (1933), Gentlemen Unafraid (1938), Alaska Holiday (1940), The Golden Totem, a novel of modern Alaska (1945.), among other titles. A few of her works were adapted for film. The movies Rocking Moon and Spawn of the North are based on her writings. She was hailed in her time as "the first real Alaskan novelist," and her works gained international press attention. Starting in early childhood, Willoughby spent many years in Alaska.