Collection of Letters to Robert J. O’Brien, of Raymond, New Hampshire, a Gay Man from his friends and associates, 1950-1954

Group of 61 letters, 161 typescript and manuscript pages, several postcards, related ephemeral material, and clippings, most letters with their retained mailing envelopes, in good, clean legible condition.

Collection of frank, and at times, sexually explicit letters sent to Robert O'Brien by his friends, many of whom were also Gay. O'Brien and his friends seem to have met while serving in the armed forces, several of his friends were still in uniform, stationed in Germany or in combat in the Korean conflict. O'Brien was during the period of this correspondence living in Raymond, New Hampshire, apparently engaged in writing the "Great American Novel". At least one of his friends was in graduate school at Princeton. Others, meanwhile, were Proust quoting n'er do wells, who may have engaged in sex with an underage youth and another who ran a brothel while stationed in Japan.

Overall, the collection offers a look at Gay life during the repressive 1950's.