Guide to the Walter H. Breen Papers, 1950-circa 1992.

Collection Number: 7755

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

Contact Information:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
(607) 255-3530
Fax: (607) 255-9524
rareref@cornell.edu
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
Compiled by:
Sarah Keen
Date completed:
December 2008
EAD encoding:
Sarah Keen, December 2008

© 2008 Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Walter H. Breen papers, 1950-circa 1992
Collection Number:
7755
Creator:
Walter H. Breen
Quantity:
0.3 cubic feet.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Correspondence, holograph notes and printed material from Walter H. Breen. The archive includes Breen's address book, approximately 90 pages, with extensive notations (referencing Arthur Clarke, Isaac Asimov, among others); approximately 47 typed manuscript pages with extensive hand-written notations on issues relating to homosexuality; approximately 60 typed pages, with extensive holograph notes, relating to the "Breen Developmental Inventory Questionnaire" and notes on the related "Project OJ"; a thirty-three page holograph manuscript by Breen entitled "Numbers are Fun!"; approximately seventy typed pages of poems and short works by Breen, many with holograph corrections; and an 18 page typed manuscript of a play entitled "Erokles", along with a 1958 letter from Burkhardt of Der Kreis/Le Cercle.
Language:
Collection material in English

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Walter H. Breen, 1928-1993, also known as E.Z. Eglinton, was the author of the 1964 book "Greek Love," as well as numerous articles on homosexuality, sexology and numismatics, and the 1953 book "Proof Coins Struck by the United States Mint, 1817-1901." He was married to science fiction writer Marion Zimmer Bradley in 1964. They had two children and separated in 1979. In 1979, his concordance of Bradley's science fiction Darkover series was published, "The Darkover concordance: a reader's guide." He was arrested on child molestation charges in 1990, and in 1991 he was charged with eight felony counts of child molestation. He was sentenced to ten years in prison and died in prison in Chino, California on April 22, 1993.
COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Correspondence, holograph notes and printed material from Walter H. Breen. The archive includes Breen's address book, approximately 90 pages, with extensive notations (referencing Arthur Clarke, Isaac Asimov, among others); approximately 47 typed manuscript pages with extensive hand-written notations on issues relating to homosexuality; approximately 60 typed pages, with extensive holograph notes, relating to the "Breen Developmental Inventory Questionnaire" and notes on the related "Project OJ"; a thirty-three page holograph manuscript by Breen entitled "Numbers are Fun!"; approximately seventy typed pages of poems and short works by Breen, many with holograph corrections; and an 18 page typed manuscript of a play entitled "Erokles", along with a 1958 letter from Burkhardt of Der Kreis/Le Cercle.
Also, approximately 50 holograph and typed letters to and from Breen from a number of correspondents, including Avant Guarde publisher Ralph Ginzburg, the Coltsfoot Press, and One Incorporated, beginning in the 1950s. A number of letters relate to Breen's early incarceration for sexual contact with minors. Many relate to personal matters, as well as articles and pending publications. Also, approximately 40 pages of notes made while in prison, “Notes from Hell," and assorted printed matter relating to homosexuality, including "The Eighth Annual Report of the George Henry Foundation." "The Altar of Venus," privately printed in 1959 and with no given author is also included.
SUBJECTS

Names:
Breen, Walter H.

Subjects:
Gay liberation movement.
Gay men--United States--Fiction.
Gay men's writings, American.
Numismatics.
Pedophilia.
Youth--Sexual behavior.
INFORMATION FOR USERS

Cite As:
Walter H. Breen papers, #7755. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
NOTES

Collecting program: Human Sexuality Collection.
CONTAINER LIST

Date
Description
Container
Resume and 1990 biographical sketch
 Box 1 Folder 1
1982
Address book
 Box 1 Folder 2
Writings
 Box 1 Folder 3
"Silhouette of Mr. W.H."
 Box 1 Folder 4
Breen Developmental Inventory
 Box 1 Folder 5
Project OJ
 Box 1 Folder 6
"Numbers are Fun!"
 Box 1 Folder 7
circa 1950-1961
Writings (poems and short works)
 Box 1 Folder 8
circa 1958
Erokles
 Box 1 Folder 9
1954
Reverend Love letter and George W. Henry Foundation report on Breen
 Box 1 Folder 10
1954-1956
Correspondence
 Box 1 Folder 11
1959-1969
Correspondence and notes
 Box 1 Folder 12
circa 1960-1976
Non coin correspondence
 Box 1 Folder 13
1972-1979
Correspondence
 Box 1 Folder 14
1983-1984
Yael Dragwyla correspondence
 Box 1 Folder 15
circa 1991-1992
"Notes from Hell"
 Box 1 Folder 16
circa 1954-1984
Assorted clippings, postcards, leaflets and Mattachine bylaws
 Box 1 Folder 17
Copy of sections of "The Sex Atlas"
 Box 1 Folder 18
"If You Are Arrested..."
 Box 1 Folder 19
1956
Henry Foundation report
 Box 1 Folder 20
1959
"Alter of Venus"
 Box 1 Folder 21