Ross wrote most of his published and unpublished work during his career as a journalist. The earliest articles are those he produced between 1956 and 1957 for the New York Enquirer, where he was a features writer. His coverage for the Enquirer was eclectic but focused on the theater and sports, especially boxing, and many of his articles are profiles (with interviews) of individual actors, athletes and entertainers, along with some reportage on the milk industry and a stunt piece about flying in a jet plane. Following is his work for the Chicago Daily News, where he reported on urban renewal and city planning in the early 1960s, including the construction of Marina City and the Carl Sandburg Village, the redevelopment of Lincoln Park and the Chicago Housing Authority. In 1965-1966 he wrote a series of articles on global poverty, international trade and the United Nations for the Long Island Press and the Progressive. Both the Enquirer and the Chicago Daily News clippings are organized in the order of the scrapbooks in which he kept them.

Included in the collection are numerous opinion articles Ross contributed to newspapers, magazines and websites, such as commentary on the Obama administration, historical pieces for the Navy News (Virginia) and Humanist magazine and an article for the online Middle East Times about Iran.

Also represented are Ross’s two widely syndicated columns: “Law & Order,” which ran in 1979 and covered matters of crime, the prison system and personal safety; and “Workplace,” which ran from 1992 through 2002 on Reuters and focused on issues related to white-collar labor and the job market, including advice for companies and employees on office decorum, good management, discrimination, fair employment, sexual harassment and technology use. Also included are a short-lived column on colleges and universities, entitled “It’s All Academic,” and a column for King Features Syndicate similar in content to his earlier “Law & Order.”

Ross’s public relations work includes his articles for the Chicago Department of Water and Sewers (under the name of Commissioner James W. Jardine), the Chicago Urban League and the National Urban League (under the name of Executive Director Whitney M. Young), as well as speeches he wrote for Young and Mayor Richard J. Daley. Press releases Ross wrote for Senator George McGovern are also included.

Ross’s other non-journalistic work includes three historical plays, a short memoir about his childhood in Logan Square during World War II, a pamphlet he co-authored for the United Planning Organization (Washington, D.C.) and a collection of songs and poetry.