Helen Gurley Brown Papers, 1938-2001
General International Standard for Archival Description
Sophia Smith Collection Smith CollegeNorthampton, MA
Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Brook Hopkins. 2003-07-01
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Helen Gurley Brown Papers
Creation of Helen Gurley Brown Papers
Time of Creation of Helen Gurley Brown Papers
Brown, Helen Gurley
Biographical History for: Helen Gurley Brown Papers
Biographical Note Helen Gurley Brown at a book signing, 1963 Author and magazine editor Helen Gurley Brown was born in Green Forest, Arkansas on 18 February 1922 to Ira and Cleo (Sisco) Gurley, both schoolteachers. Though the family was poor, Cleo quit teaching to rear her two daughters. In Helen's early childhood, the Gurleys moved to Little Rock when Ira was elected to the state legislature. He was killed in an elevator accident when Helen was ten. Cleo struggled to support her children in depression-era Arkansas, first moving back with family in the Ozark region, and then taking Helen and her older sister Mary to Los Angeles in the late 1930s. In Los Angeles, Mary contracted polio, which strained the Gurley's already grim financial condition. Despite hardship, Helen excelled socially and academically. She was active in leadership positions in several high school clubs and graduated class valedictorian. Helen Gurley spent a year at the Texas State College for Women and then returned to Los Angeles to put herself through Woodbury Business College. Cleo and Mary moved back to Arkansas but remained dependent on Helen's financial support, a situation which continued for the remainder of their lives. Helen graduated from Woodbury with a business degree in 1941 and took on a succession of secretarial jobs. The seventeenth job, at the advertising agency Foote, Cone, and Belding, was pivotal to Helen's future success. Helen Gurley worked as executive secretary to Don Belding. During this time, she won a Glamour magazine contest for "Girls of Taste" that awarded her a vacation and a wardrobe. She had an active dating life, including a romance with prizefighter Jack Dempsey. Gurley's hard work captured the attention of her boss, and at the suggestion of his wife, Don Belding experimented, allowing Helen to write advertising copy. She succeeded at the task, and moved from secretarial work to copywriting. She wrote ads for several accounts, won prizes for her copy, and by the late 1950s had become the best-paid female copywriter on the West Coast. In 1959, at the age of 37, Helen found a marriage partner in David Brown, a magazine and book editor who would become a film executive at the Twentieth Century Fox Studios, and later an independent producer. He was also an uncredited partner behind many of Helen's projects. After she found her advertising career stagnating at Foote, Cone, and Belding and then the Kenyon and Eckhardt Agency, it was David who encouraged her to write a book about her life as a single woman. The result, Sex and the Single Girl (1962), captured a zeitgeist of the early 1960s. Bernard Geis Associates, a maverick publishing house, found great success with Brown's book, a guide to living single "in superlative style." It later published the wildly successful potboilers of Jacqueline Susann. Sex and the Single Girl, an advice manual that exhorted women to remain single and find fulfillment in an occupation and non-marital relationships with men, sparked national controversy and remained on the best-seller lists for months. Helen Gurley Brown made frequent personal, television, and radio appearances to promote the book. Rights to the title were sold to Warner Brothers at the highest price then ever paid for a non-fiction title. The film, Sex and the Single Girl (1964), starred Natalie Wood (as Helen Gurley Brown) and Tony Curtis. Following the success of Sex and the Single Girl, David Brown and Bernard Geis Associates marketed Helen in a variety of enterprises. She wrote a syndicated newspaper advice column, recorded phonograph albums and radio spots, and wrote prodigiously. Her next book, Sex and the Office (1964), a racier advice manual and expose of a sex-filled world of secretaries, sold disappointingly in comparison to Sex and the Single Girl. The Browns submitted proposals for a variety of works to keep up the momentum of Helen's popularity following Sex and the Single Girl: plays, television shows, other books, and magazines. Their proposal for a magazine for single women ("Femme") drew the interest of the Hearst magazine corporation. Though they did not want to start a new magazine for Brown, they made a trial agreement for her to try her format at their failing general interest magazine, Cosmopolitan. Brown officially became editor of Cosmopolitan in July 1965, and she brought dramatic changes to the first issue. Brown converted the conservative Cosmopolitan to a female counterpart of Hugh Hefner's iconic Playboy magazine. She featured sexy cover models, controversial subject matter, and a hip sensibility that garnered a large audience quickly. While editing Cosmopolitan, Helen Gurley Brown authored The Single Girl's Cookbook (1969) and Sex and the New Single Girl (1971), continued to be a guest on many TV shows, and became one of Hearst's biggest success stories. Meanwhile, David Brown, along with partner Richard Zanuck, produced many successful films, including The Sting, Jaws, Cocoon, Deep Impact, and Chocolat. In 1983, Helen wrote the best-seller Having at All, an advice manual and memoir in the style of Sex and the Single Girl. In the 1980s, she also had television stints as a regular on Good Morning America, a short-lived syndicated show A View from Cosmo, and was a guest on talk shows. She continued to edit the highly successful Cosmopolitan, which had by the 1980s grown to 300 pages, of which a hundred were highly lucrative advertisements. She oversaw expansion of the Cosmopolitan franchise into numerous international editions. In 1993 she wrote The Late Show, an advice manual and memoir about growing older. She published a writing guide, The Writer's Rules, in 1999, and in 2000 wrote her so-far definitive memoir, I'm Wild Again. Brown's career has been marked by controversy. Sex and the Single Girl, a celebration of independent womanhood published a year before Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, sparked much dispute about women's place in pre-women's movement popular culture. In a literary world that had only recently seen the lessening of stringent restrictions on the portrayal of sex, Brown's emphasis on sex drew much opposition from conservative critics. However, by the late 1960s, she and her vision of adamantly man-crazy womanhood drew opposition from non-conservatives as well. The incipient women's movement targeted Brown's limited vision of liberation. Feminists criticized the sex-object "Cosmo Girl" and envisioned a mass media that reflected a greater range of possibilities for women than the pink collar, man-obsessed vision of Cosmopolitan. Brown's idiosyncratic notions of liberation and sexual freedom have raised controversy in recent years as well. In the 1990s, her dismissal of sexual harassment as a significant workplace problem and her indifference to the risk of AIDS for heterosexual women drew great wrath again from feminists. Brown nonetheless identifies herself and her magazine as unfailingly feminist. She has worked on behalf of the National Abortion Rights Action League in support of abortion rights and supported other feminist organizations and causes. While Brown has frequently been the target of criticism, in recent years she has also accumulated accolades. Her work at Cosmopolitan has been recognized through her election to the Publishing Hall of Fame and a Henry Johnson Fisher Award. She has been declared a New York City landmark, being a familiar presence on New York City busses heading from her Central Park West apartment to the Cosmopolitan office. Her admirers and friends have included gossip columnist Liz Smith, television journalist Barbara Walters, mogul Malcolm Forbes, and New York Mayor Ed Koch. In 1997 Brown gave up her editorship of Cosmopolitan to become editor-in-chief of international editions of the magazine. Far from a retiree, she remains a workaholic in her new job, enjoys travel with David, who continues to produce hit films, and still voices "outrageous" opinions that make her a frequent presence in newspapers and magazines.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The Helen Gurley Brown Papers consist of 22.5 linear feet of material and date from 1938 to 2001. The bulk of the papers were produced in the 1960s and provide a comprehensive picture of Brown's exceptionally intertwined personal and professional lives. Types of material include personal and professional correspondence, published and unpublished writings, personal records and memorabilia, printed materials, photographs, biographical materials, an audiotaped interview, videotapes, phonograph albums, scrapbooks, and posters. Some material pertaining primarily to David Brown can be found in SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS and SERIES IV. WRITINGS. Since he collaborated with Helen on many of her projects, his work is interspersed throughout her papers. Helen Gurley Brown has been a pivotal figure in the magazine world in the second half of the twentieth century, and her papers give an insider's look into the Hearst organization, one of the most powerful media organizations of this century, and the publishing industry in general. The papers also address topics well beyond the world of magazines. Her work as an advertising copywriter at a time when women were not expected to work outside of the home certainly deserves consideration, and her call for "liberation" of the single woman was among the first. Brown's rags to riches career was unusual at a time when most women still did not work outside the home. Her experience of moving from pink-collar clerical worker to wealthy doyenne of the mass media was unique. She helped shape the popular culture of the 1960s and beyond. Sex and the Single Girl ushered in a spate of "Sex and the..." imitators but also launched a cultural dialogue on the question of the unmarried, sexually active, employed woman. The look of Cosmopolitan, which was conveyed on the signature covers photographed by Francesco Scavullo and the racy cover blurbs, defined young women's magazines for much of the second half of the twentieth century. As her career progressed, Brown associated with rich and influential people, who are well-represented in her collection. Additionally, the strong responses, both positive and negative, elicited by Brown's work give a sense of changing and conflicting public opinion on questions of sex, gender, and the media. To date, there is no scholarly biography of Helen Gurley Brown.
Advertising--United States--History--20th century
lcsh
Celebrities--New York (State)--New York
Journalism--United States--History--20th century--Sources
Bernard Geis Associates (New York, N.Y.)
lcnaf
Cosmopolitan (New York, N.Y.: 1952)--History
Hearst Corporation
New York (N.Y.)--Social life and customs--20th century--Sources
series
SERIES I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS (1938-2000)
This series includes material that documents Helen Gurley Brown's personal life and professional accomplishments. There are clippings, appointment books, travel itineraries, awards, and photographs. There is also a file of material from and about David Brown. The many Clippings give a comprehensive picture of the heavy press coverage Brown has received throughout her career. They stretch from her schoolgirl days in Little Rock to the present. The Education material primarily covers Brown's involvement later in life with her alma mater Woodbury College. This series contains miscellaneous Financial and legal material, including a 1946 income tax return; Awards; and a Videotape profile of Brown aired on CNN. The Memorabilia is especially engaging, containing writings and ephemera from her years in Little Rock and those pre-dating Sex and the Single Girl. The Papers contain a large selection of Photographs, some shot by celebrity photographers, and many with celebrity friends.
SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE (1939, 1950-2001)
Brown has always been a prodigious correspondent. Her correspondence is organized into several subseries. The Individuals subseries is arranged alphabetically by name and includes friends, frequent correspondents, and correspondence more personal than businesslike. Accordingly correspondence can be found here that is related to her work at Cosmopolitan, her writings, speeches and appearances, or other topics located elsewhere in her papers. Correspondence with celebrities is filed in Individuals. The next subseries is Thank you and congratulatory notes, mostly from her staff at Cosmopolitan magazine, but also from her household staff and employers at Hearst. This correspondence is mainly of a quotidian nature, but illustrates how Brown, by many accounts a demanding person, earned the respect of her staff and employers. Public response and fan mail includes letters from readers of Brown's writings and viewers of her appearances. Some letters are simple requests for autographs, while others provide detailed and moving accounts of how Brown's plan for success helped these generally working-class women find degrees of fulfillment. The extent to which these women embraced Cosmopolitan's message is in sharp contrast to the criticism leveled at the magazine by many conservatives and feminists. Correspondence by Subject includes letters generated by Brown's philanthropic work, critiques of magazines other than Cosmopolitan and other Hearst properties, letters from libraries and museums interested in Brown's work, love letters from the 1950s, and correspondence with friends from Little Rock. The bulk of the Subject correspondence involves Editor's perquisites/gifts. These letters reveal Brown's personal interest in clothes and cosmetics. Noted for her thrift, she often used her clout as an editor of a women's magazine to obtain these items wholesale. Manufacturers and designers, eager to have their products highlighted in Cosmopolitan, and others because they were friends, obliged. These letters give no indication that the products were intended for the pages of Cosmopolitan; such correspondence can be found in SERIES V. COSMOPOLITAN. As best as can be determined, the letters here pertain to gifts and perquisites that were for Brown's personal use. General correspondence contains letters of a quotidian nature, regarding home repairs and so forth. This series contains most of Brown's correspondence, but there is additional correspondence in other series. For example, correspondence generated by the planning and execution of speeches and appearances, with publishers and media figures interested in Helen's writings, and tied explicitly to her work at Cosmopolitan can be found in the relevant series. Correspondence connected to specific projects has been kept with the project whenever possible. An exception to this rule is celebrity correspondence, which has been filed in SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE-Individuals even though it may relate to a specific project. Determining whether or not correspondence should be categorized as professional or personal was one of the biggest challenges of this collection, since Brown's work and personal life were enmeshed. Many of the people with whom she maintained friendships were figures in the media. In general, the correspondence included in SERIES V. COSMOPOLITANis explicitly related to the production of the magazine. Nonetheless, many of the correspondents in SERIES II. CORRESPONDENCE are at least tangentially related to Cosmopolitan.
SERIES III. SPEECHES AND APPEARANCES (1962-2001),
Material in this series pertains to Brown's presentations in person, or on television or radio. There are correspondence; speech texts; and notes from her personal appearances, including the text of a debate in which she participated at Oxford University. Her television and radio work generated scripts; schedules; and correspondence, including public response mail from an appearance on the news program Dateline. Pilot shows starring Brown, one in the 1960s called Outrageous Opinions and another in the 1980s called What Should I Do?, generated material as well. Television proposals that never came to fruition are filed in SERIES IV. WRITINGS. In the early 1960s, Brown recorded a radio show that was syndicated in Canada. This series contains the complete scripts of these recordings.
SERIES IV. WRITINGS (1940, 1956-2000),
Besides editing Cosmopolitan, Helen Gurley Brown occupied herself primarily as a writer. Before she wrote the best-selling Sex and the Single Girl, she wrote ad copy, of which a small amount can be found here, and unpublished vignettes and poems. The emphasis on themes of sexuality and independent womanhood is greater in these early unpublished writings than her later published works. Brown's collection boasts impressive documentation of her published writing efforts. It contains drafts; manuscripts; newspaper clippings; and published copies of Sex and the Single Girl, Sex and the Office, Outrageous Opinions, Having It All, The Late Show, and I'm Wild Again. Researchers interested in her first two books should consult correspondence (filed in this series) with her publisher Bernard Geis Associates, which includes letters from Bernard Geis and Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and the Lucy Kroll Agency. This correspondence gives an excellent sense of the circumstances that surrounded Brown's sudden rise to fame and the successful efforts of Helen and David Brown to capitalize upon that fame. The correspondence also elucidates the changing world of the media and publishing in the 1960s as well as relatively new strategies of marketing controversial and sexually explicit material. Clippings record the public response to such efforts. There are published and draft versions of Brown's magazine and newspaper articles in this series. Material related to a syndicated advice column for single women that ran between the time Sex and the Single Girl was published and the point at which Brown took over Cosmopolitan is of special interest. The series also contains the scripts and LP albums Brown recorded, one an album of advice, the other a recording of a speech. Short pieces that Brown wrote for other people's books and articles and her declines of such requests are found here. The unpublished material reveals the breadth of Brown's ideas. Several proposals for unrealized television programs, plays, and articles concern themes that Brown repeated in her published work, but take a more radical approach to them. Fragments of an incomplete autobiography; an autobiographical theatrical piece, which includes an audiotaped interview; and fictional short stories and poems are included among the unpublished works. The series also contains letters to the editor, notes, and some writings by David Brown
SERIES V. COSMOPOLITAN (1965-2000)
Helen Gurley Brown's 'child' for the past thirty-five years has been Cosmopolitan magazine. She changed a failing general interest magazine into a phenomenon - not only a best-selling magazine, but a cultural icon. This series comprehensively traces Brown's Cosmopolitan career from its beginnings to her current job evaluating Cosmopolitan's international editions. Of special note is the proposal circulated by David and Helen Brown for a new magazine, 'Femme,' that would become Cosmopolitan's new format. Throughout her tenure, a primary component of Brown's job was the courting of advertisers. Texts of the speeches and presentations she gave to advertisers and international editorial staff, as well as acceptance speeches for awards given to Cosmopolitan can be found in the subseries Advertising and publicity. This subseries includes advertisements for the magazine, including many written by Brown; promotional materials from the Hearst Corporation; and a large amount of newspaper clippings documenting coverage of Cosmopolitan in the press. Correspondence (the years 1988-89 are especially well documented) illuminates the day-to-day operations of Brown's editorial work, as letters flow between Brown and writers, Cosmopolitan staffers, advertisers, and Hearst executives regarding specific issues of the magazine as well as ongoing concerns. Frequent correspondents among the staff and Hearst executives are filed by individual. Researchers interested in the advertising content of the magazine may wish to consult the letters of Stan Perkins and Seth Hoyt. The Editorial subseries provides an in-depth look at the magazine production process. Rules for writing and art format, which Brown enforced strictly, are compiled from the 1970s to the 90s. There are files of article ideas and editing memos, and a sample folder that represents the transformation of an article from its submitted state to the published version. Some notes on Brown's ideas for the magazine have been included, as is information on production and circulation. This subseries also contains the results of reader and staff surveys. Within the Editorial material is a section on special features. Material regarding the famous Burt Reynolds centerfold and other special issues of the magazine, such as anniversary issues and the last issue edited by Helen Gurley Brown, are filed here. Another special feature was the failed television pilot A View from Cosmo starring Brown. A "Best of" set of articles has Brown's favorite article among pieces from such regular Cosmopolitan writers as Erica Jong, Judith Krantz, and Gail Sheehy; a collection of some of Brown's long-running editorial, "Step into My Parlor;" and drafts and a copy of the only article Brown wrote for the magazine. A small subseries concerns Cosmopolitan Events and includes material from a lunch given by Brown for other women's magazine editors to raise awareness for the National Abortion Rights Action League and a party thrown by the Hearst organization to celebrate Brown's twenty-fifth anniversary as Editor. A set of Cosmopolitan magazines from 1953-79 is housed in the Sophia Smith Collection's Periodicals Collection.
SERIES VI. OVERSIZE MATERIALS (1965-96)
These items have been culled from other series for preservation purposes. The series features large photographs and artwork of Brown; an honorary degree; birthday cards and tributes; writings; publicity from her books and Cosmopolitan; material from Cosmopolitan; and scrapbooks from Sex and the Office, a television show proposal, a Cosmopolitan speech, and her Cosmopolitan twenty-fifth anniversary party.
General, 1971
Clippings
Print interviews of Brown: correspondence, 1963-2000, n.d.
Books and papers, 1991, n.d.
Family and early life, circa 1935-59
"Beaux"
Helen and David Brown
David Brown
Parties and charity events
Awards and tributes to Brown
Speeches and appearances
Apartment and office
General
General, continued
Photos of Brown, no text
Brown quotes within articles not about her, box quotes, etc.
Interviews and panels
Foreign language
Appointment and address books
Education (includes correspondence and printed material from Wayne Miller and Woodbury University), 1984-2001
Foote, Cone, and Belding job evaluation, 1957
Financial and legal materials
Correspondence, 1964-89
Statements, stubs, miscellany, tax return, and Sex and the Single Girl royalty statements, 1946, 1963-69, 1980-85
Clothes: drawings, measurements, and expenditures, 1966-71, n.d.
Travel itineraries, general, 1966-69, n.d.
Awards
Correspondence, 1971-98
Publicity, invitations, and printed material, 1971-97
Cosmetic Executive Women's Achiever, 1991
USO Woman of the Year, 1991
Memorabilia: personal stationary, handmade cards, wedding invitation, and four leaf clover, circa 1938-39, 1951-52, 1959, 1985, n.d.
David Brown: printed material, notes, and testimonial by Helen Brown, 1966, 1972, 1979, 1992, 1995, n.d.
Photographs
Brown alone, circa 1930s-99
Family (includes photos of Helen and David Brown, and mother and sister alone), circa 1940s-90s
Helen Brown in groups, circa 1940s-mid-90s
Promotional shots of book covers and clippings, 1962-82
Twenty-fifth anniversary party, 1990
Henry Johnson Fisher Award, 1996
Brown on Tonight Show, Merv Griffin, Good Morning America, David Brenner, 1967-early 1990s
Not Helen or David Brown, circa 1950s-70s, n.d.
Unidentified, circa 1930s?
Videotape: Helen Gurley Brown: A Profile, CNN, 1998
Family
Alford, Mary Gurley
Brown, David: with Helen Brown and third party, includes John Dos Passos, Charles Bluhdorn, John Lindsay, Sammy Cahn, A.M. Rosenthal, Felix Rohatyn, Liz Smith, and Earl Wilson
Bryan, Cleo
Individuals
A: Floyd Abrams; Michael Abrums; Bella Abzug; Mr. and Mrs. Ed Acker; Mona Ackerman; Cindy Adams;Charles Addams; Jerome Agel; Roger Ailes; Shana Alexander; Woody Allen; Bruce Altman; Carlos Amador; Totty Ames; Cleveland Amory; Judi Anderson; Paul Anderson; Julie Andrews; Walter Annenberg; Myra, John, and Malcolm Appleton; GigiArledge; Lucie Arnaz; Sharon Arnold; Dr. Bob Arnot; Bea Arthur; Joseph Assante; Sherrell Aston and Muffie Potter; Robert Atkins; and Louis Auchincloss
Ba-Be: Judy Bachrach; F. Lee Bailey; Glenda and Steve Bailey; Marilyn Cantor Baker; Russell Baker; Letitia Baldridge; Larry Baldwin and John Clerc Scott; Lucy Ball; Lawrence Barnett; Bruce Barone; Mary Ellen Berlin Barrett; Warren Beatty; Geoffrey Beene; Charlotte Beers; Don and Alice Belding; Tony Bennett; Polly Bergen; Irving Berlin; H. Jerome Berns; and Robert Bernstein
Bi-Bl: Jim Bickford; Bennett Bidwell; Elizabeth Jessup Bilheimer; Stephen and Alexandra Mayes Birnbaum; Joey Bishop; Joanne Black; Ruth Blackstone; Harry Blake; Leslie Blanchard; and Charles Bluhdorn
Bo-Bu: William Bolger; Erma Bombeck; Ray Bradbury; Patricia Salter Bradshaw; James Brady; Jacqueline Brandwynne; Bill Brangham; David Brenner; Marie Brenner; David Brinkley; Tom Brokaw; Bob Brown (love letters from 1940s) ; Ned Brown; Sam Brown; Tina Brown; Tony Brown; Robert Brownson; Robert Bruce; Karen Bruno; Art Buchwald; William F. Buckley, Jr.; Howard Buffett; Carol Burnett; Barbara Bush; and Red Buttons
Ca-Ci: Herb Caen; William and Grace Cahan; Sammy and Tita Cahn; Sue Cameron; Rosemary Campbell; Pat Carbine; Pamela Carmichael; Liz Carpenter; Johnny Carson; Amy Carter; Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter; Linda and Arthur Carter; Jill Cassidy; Ray Cave; Dick Cavett; Anne Chamberlain; Chris Chase; Eileen (Elizabeth) and Robert Chen; Henry Christensen, III; Herman Citron; Richard Civita; Roberto Civita; and Victor Civita,
Cl-Cu: Jill Clayburgh,; Eleanor Clift; Hillary and Bill Clinton; Rosemary Clooney; Glenn Close; Richard Clurman; Alexander and Hilary Cohen; Bea Cohen; Claudia Cohen; Eugene Cohen; Sherry Suib Cohen; Lady Georgina Coleridge; Glenn Collins; Jackie Collins; Judy Collins; Nancy Collins; Pat Collins; Steve Conn; Heather Connolly; Shirley Conran; Barbara Cook; Joan Ganz Cooney; Amy Levin Cooper; Paul Cooper; Bill Cosby; Chris Costello; Jacqui Cotsen; Katie Couric; Warren Cowan; William Craig, III; Liz Crain; Joan Crawford; Walter and Betsy Cronkite; Delores Cunningham; Mary Cunningham; Ruth Curnutt; Charlotte Curtis; Tony Curtis; and Charlie and Christopher Cusack
Da-Di: Kitty D'Alessio; Maxine Daley; Kay Daly; Vic Damone; Faith Daniels; Mary Ann Danner; Leonard Dare; Saul David; John Davidson; Joanne Davis; Jill Davison; Richard Dawson; Fred De Cordova; Jean Deems; John DeGroot; Oscar de la Renta; Lois Ann Demko; Ronie Dente; Countess Ailene de Romanones; Peter Diamandis; Barbara Lee and Carl Diamonstein-Spielvogel; Joan Didion [Dunne]; Barry Diller; Phyllis Diller; and Edward DiPrete
Do-Dy: Robert Dolce; Elizabeth Dole; Phil Donahue; Sam Donaldson; Carrie Donovan; Michael Douglas; Maureen Dowd; Edward Reynolds Downe; Hugh Downs; Judi Ellin Drogin; Michael Drury; Peter Duchin; Robin Chandler (Mrs. Angier Biddle) Duke; Georgia Dullea; Faye Dunaway; Dominick Dunne; Clarissa and George Dyer; and Oscar Dystel
E: John Eastman; Merry Echo; Owen Edwards; Athenal Ehlert; Lawrence Eisenberg; Lee Eisenberg; Dwight Eisenhower; Julie Eisenhower; Susan Eisenhower; Linda Ellerbee [?]; Dick Ellescas; Inga Elliot; Linda Louise Berlin Emmet; Arthur Emil; Sandra Forsyth Enos; Nora Ephron; Ahmet Ertegun; Charles Evans; Joni Evans [see also SERIES IV. WRITINGS-Books-Having It All and The Late Show]; Peter Evans; Robert Evans; and Judith Exner
F: Ted Factor; Lady Mary Fairfax; Lisa Fallon; Musi Farner; Mia Farrow; Judy Feiffer; Michael Feinstein; Fred Feldmesser; Clay Felker; Lessie Ferguson; Sarah Ferguson; Temple Fielding; Freddie Fields; Naomi Findlay; William Fine; Pamela Fiori; Karen Fisher; Ron Fletcher; John Florida; Jane Fonda; Christopher (Kip) Forbes; Malcolm Forbes, Sr.; Malcolm (Steve) Forbes, Jr.; Robert Forbes; Timothy Forbes; Betty and Gerald Ford; Charlotte Ford; Gerry Ford; Reed Foster; Dale Miller Frehse; Betty Friedan; Steve Friedman; Thomas Friedman; Edna Leah Frosch; David and Carina Frost; Lewis Burke Frumkes; Bonnie Hurowitz Fuller; Allen Funt; and Betty Furness
Ga-Go: Marilyn Galanoy; Ernest Gann; Nancy Tuck Gardiner; William Donald Garson; Bruce Gelb; Phyllis George; Richard Gere; Freddie Gershon; J. Paul Getty; Charles Gibson; Kathie Lee Gifford; Genevieve Gilles; Marcia Ann Gillespie; Elga Gimbel; Rudolph Giuliani; Leslie Glass; Selma Goksel; Harry Golden; Ralph Golco; Leonard Goldenson; Barbara Goldsmith; Mark Goodson; Milton and Maura Gordon; Stephen Gordon; and Robert Gould
Gr-Gu: Katharine Graham; Cary Grant; Ernestine Gravely; Barry Gray; Adolph and Phyllis Green; George Green; Judy Green; Leslie Greenberg; Gael Greene; Vartan Gregorian; Richard Grenier; Joel and Jo Wilder Grey; Merv Griffin; Helen, Ann, and Steno Grimes; Henry Anatole and Louise Grunwald; Audrey Gruss; Lois and Lee Guber; Jacqueline Guber; Bob Guccione, Jr.; Kathy Keeton Guccione; Maria Guesk; C.Z. Guest; Bobby Guillory [?]; Bryant Gumbel; and Lynn Guzey
Ha-Hef: Adrienne Hall; Halston; Marvin Hamlisch; Armand Hammer; Alvin Hampel; Jane Hanson; William Harbach; Jean Harris; Barbara [Grizzuti] Harrison; Kitty Carlisle Hart ; Jan Hartley; David Hartman; David Hasselhoff; Goldie Hawn; Naura Hayden; Evangeline Hayes; Fred Hayman; Patty Hearst; Randolph, Catherine, and Veronique Hearst; Austine and William R. Hearst, Jr.; Pamela Hedley; Elaine Heffner; Richard Heffner; Christie Hefner; and Hugh Hefner
Hep-Hu: Katharine Hepburn; Lenore Hershey; Annemarie Herzog; Donald and Marilyn Hewitt; George Roy Hill; Sandy Hill; Gail and John Hilson; Mildred Hilson; Arthur Hirsch; Shere Hite; Bunny Hoest; James Hoge; Lou Honderich; Benjamin Hooks; Bunny (Mrs. Mickey) Hooten; Bob Hope; David Horner; Barbara Howar; Ron Howard; David and Helga Howie; Arianna Huffington; Robert Humphreys; Lawrence Hughes; and William Hunt
I-J: Lee Iacocca; Amy Irving; Molly Ivins; Jody Jacobs; Rona Jaffe; Morton and Linda Janklow; Jacob Javits; Peter Jennings; Ward and Julie Jenssen; Aleta Jessup; Ruth (Gerry) Jones; Erica Jong; Vernon Jordan; Irene Josephy; Raul Julia; and Ann and Arnold Jurdem
Ka-Kn: Helene Kalmanson; Norma Kamali; Harold Kaminsky; Beverly Kanes [?]; Bernice Kanner; Joanne Kaplan; Donna Karan; David Karp; Phyllis Kasha; Masako Katahira; Jeffrey Katzenberg; Elaine Kaufman; Julie Kaufman; Danny Kaye; Dena Kaye; Karen Kayser; Mimi Kazon; Diane Keaton; Bill Keavy; Sally Kellerman; Kitty Kelley; Leo Kelmenson; Edward Kennedy; Jeanne Kennedy; John Kennedy, Jr.; Walter and Jean Kerr; William Kerr; Herb Kerry; Alan King; Larry King; Philip and Jean Kingsley; Henry and Nancy Kissinger; Vera Klawitter; Calvin Klein; Ed Klein; Virginia Kleinrock; Georgette Klinger; Kathryn Klinger; John and Patricia Kluge; and John Knowles
Koch, Edward
Chinese statue correspondence
Koo-Ku: C. Everett Koop; Ted Koppel; Michael Korda [see also SERIES IV. WRITINGS-Books-Having It All]; Lester Korn; Lynne Kortenhaus; Jerzy Kosinski; Edward Kosner; Elizabeth Kramer; Judith and Steve Krantz; Henry and Carolyne Kravis; Robert Kreis; Florence Kriendler; Peter Kriendler; Joan Kron; Charla Krupp; and Helen Kushnick
La: Harriet La Barre; Alan Ladd, Jr.; Joey Lagani; Alan Lakein; Jack LaLanne; Louise Lammlen; Ann Landers; George Lang; Polly Langbort; Kelly Lange; Angela Lansbury; Sherry Lansing; Mary Louise Lau; Estee Lauder; Evelyn and Leonard Lauder; Ralph Lauren; Arthur Laurents; Jerome Lawrence; Mary Wells Lawrence; and Irving Lazar
Le-Li: Frances Lear; Norman Lear; John Ledes; Ernest and Jackie Lehman; Joe Lebworth; Warner Leroy; Bernard Leser; Jerry Levin [?]; Ray Levin; Ellen Levine; Ruth Levine; Suzanne Levine; Simone and William Levitt; Caroline and Alain Levy; Ed Lewis; Berna Linden; Carol Lindley; John Lindsay; and Brian Linehan
Lo-Ly: includes Kai-Yin Lo; Jo Loesser; Anita Loos; Shirley Lord; Mari Loshin; Dorothy Loudon; Iris Love; Clare Booth Luce; Mary Luke; Joan Lunden; Carol Lynley and Paul Pourchot; and William Lyons
Mac-Man: Blair MacArthur; Jean MacArthur; Austin Mace; Shirley MacLaine; Bill Maher; David and Hillie Mahoney; Norman and Norris Mailer; Lee Majors; Pyrrha Malouf; Louis Malle; Nathan Mandelbaum; and Bill Manville
Map-Me: Fred and Grace Mapstone; Jamsheed and Arnaz Marker; Judy Markey; James Marlas; Alice Mason; Kenneth Mason; Frank Massi; Robert Massie; Virginia Johnson Masters; Carol Matthews; Christopher Maurer; Herbert and Louise Mayes; Barry McCaffrey; Carole Holmes McCarthy; Ruth McCarthy; Sandra McCracken; Marian McDonald; Mary Byrn McDonnell; Cynthia McFadden; Ali McGraw; Phyllis Jean McGuire; Rod McKuen; Ed McMahon; Margaret Mead; Aileen Mehle; Sue Mengers; Lewis Meyer; and Chris Meyers
Mi-My: Pat Miller; Yvette Mimieux; Grace Mirabella; Mary Tyler Moore; Jessica Morris; Georgette and Robert Mosbacher; Pat Mosbacher; Daniel Moynihan; Martin Mull; Moira Mumma; Anna and Rupert Murdoch; Betty Tabb Hurst and Joseph Murry; and Bess Myerson
N: George Nagamatsu; Madeline Nagel; Theodore Nathan; Donald Newhouse; S.I. Newhouse; Paul Newman; Phyllis Newman; Edward and Judy Ney; Carl Nichols; Mike Nichols; Sharon Nichols; William Niebla; Richard and Pat Nixon; Deborah Norville; and Novella
O: Conan O'Brien; Katherine Claire O'Brien; Sandra Day O'Connor; Jacqueline Onassis; Ryan O'Neal; Grace O'Reilly; Norman Orentreich; Dee Osborne; Robert Osterman; John O'Toole; and Deniz and Vedat Oztarhan
P: Sarvenaz Pahlavi; Alan Pakula; Alexander Papamarkou; Hurley Papcock; George Pataki; Cynthia Patson; Jane Pauley; Barbara Pearlman; Greg and Veronique Peck; Jack Peninger; Mitzi Perdue; Ronald and Claudia Perelman; Anthony Perkins; H. Ross Perot; Bill Peters; Elizabeth Peters; Ray Petersen; Peter Peterson; Guy and Lucille Peyrelonge; Carol Pfeffer; J.J. Philbin; Regis and Joy Philbin; Ivo Pitanguy; George Plimpton; Letty Cottin Pogrebin [see also SERIES IV. WRITINGS-Books-Publisher and agent, 1960s- Bernard Geis Associates]; Beverly Poitier; Patrizia Pontremoli; Frank Price; Hal Prince; Leonard Probst; Emilio Pucci; St. Clair Pugh; and Mario Puzo
Ra-Re: Glady Rachmil; Al Rachoi; Lee Radziwill; John Raitt; Heather Randall; Tony Randall; Joe Raposo; Dan Rather; Sylvia Rayner; Nancy and Ronald Reagan; Helen Reddy; Robert Redford; Rob Reiner; Ann Reinking; Janet Reno; James Reston; David Reuben; Charles Revson; Martin, Eleanor, and Eugenia Revson; and John E. Reynolds
Ri-Roo: Abraham Ribicoff; Yvonne Rich; Dusty Rice; Michael Ritchie; Geraldo Rivera; Joan Rivers [Rosenberg ]; Mrs. Charles Robb; Cokie Roberts; Oral Roberts; Shelley Roberts; Jill Robinson; Blanchette Rockefeller; Nelson Rockefeller; Henry Rogers; Kenny Rogers; Peter Rogers; Willie Mae Rogers; Felix and Elizabeth Rohatyn; Betty Rollin; Jeanette (Thompson) Roman; and Andrew Rooney
Ros-Ru: Maxine Rose; Isadore Rosenfeld; Paul Rosenfield; Abe Rosenthal; Diana Ross; Eileen Quinn Ross; Herbert Ross; Steven Ross; Harriet Rosso; James Roth, Jr.; Roy Rowan; Teresa Rowton; Steve Rubell; and Ann Rubenstein
Sa: Catherine Sabino; Mualla Sabit; Morley and Jane Safer; William Safire; Harrison and Charlotte Salisbury; William and Virginia Salomon; Jean Salvadore; Alfreda Sanchez; Cristina Saralegui; Anna and Robert Sarnoff; Jerry Saviola; Diane Sawyer; and Leslie Sawyer
Sc-Sh: Arnold Scaasi; Francesco Scavullo; William Schallert; Dorothy Schiff; Irwin Schloss; Hilda Schneider; Joan Schnitzer; Ian Schrager; Pat Schroeder; Jonathan Schwartz; Stephen Schwarzman; Dennis Scioli; Joseph Scognamillo; Deb Scott; John Clerc Scott [see Larry Baldwin]; Bob Scribner; William Seawell; George Segal; Peggy Seigel; Katharine Seitz; Irene Mayer Selznick; Andrew Shahinian; Gene Shalit; Robert Shanks; Selma Shapiro; Laura Sharp; Veronica Sheehan; Gail Sheehy; Sidney Sheldon; and Dinah Shore
Si-Sk: Ann and Herbert Siegel; Stanley Siegel; Jack Siegrist; Pat Signorelli; Isobel Silden; Fred Sill; Beverly Sills [Greenough]; Fred Silverman; Ruth Simmons; Dawn Simon; Neil Simon; Norma Simon; Norton Simon; Frank Sinatra; Nancy Sinatra [Lambert]; and Florence Skelly
Sl-Smith, L: includes Barbara Jo Slate; Zora Sloan; Diana Smith; and Liz Smith [2 letters restricted until 2026 have been removed]
Smith, R-Sp: Richard Smith; Tommy Smothers; Richard Snyder; Tom Snyder; Kit Solde [?]; Paul Solomon; Stephen Sondheim; Shawn Southwick-King; A.J. Spectarsky; Halbert Speer; Cindy Spengler; and Steven Spielberg
St: Leslie Stahl; Francesca Stanfill; Ray Stark; Danielle Steel; Andrew and Lyn Stein; Jules Stein; Gloria Steinem; Sanford Stele; Virginia Dasso Stephens; Leonard Stern; Gary Stevens; George Stevens, Jr.; Martha Stewart; Faith Stewart-Gordon; Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara; Barbara Stone; Harry Stone; Noreen Stone; Betty Strauss; Helen Strauss; Meryl Streep; Barbra Streisand; David Strousse; Lee Strasberg; Kandy Stroud; Jan Struber; Bobbe Stultz; and Geraldine Stutz
Su-Sy: Arthur Ochs Sulzberger; David Susskind; H.N. (Swannie) Swanson; and Marilyn Symons
Ta-Th: Gay and Nan Talese; Linda Talley; Madelon Talley; McDonald Talley; Annette Tapert; Dawn Tarnofsky; Iareas Tavou; Elizabeth Taylor; Margaret Ternes; Patrick Terra; Joe Tex; Margaret Thalken; Theresa Thalken; Margaret Thatcher; Helen Thomas; Marlo Thomas; Edward Thompson; and Strom Thurmond
Ti-Tu: Grant Tinker; Preston Robert Tisch; Robert Tompkins; Bill Tonelli; Jack Tormey; Lyn Tornabene; Jean-Claude Tramont; Viviana Traverso; Marietta Tree; Dorothy Treloar; George Trescher; Carola Trier; Pauline Trigere; Morita Truman; Donald and Ivana Trump; and Ted Turner
U-V: Liv Ullman; John Updike; Dolores Urzo; Jack Valenti; Abby Van Buren; Pamela Van Zandt; Gloria Vanderbilt; Patricia Varga; Van Der Veer Varner; Monique van Vooren; Laurel and Pete Vasso; C. Speed and Charlotte Kelly Thompson Veal; Gretchen Verner; Joe Vetrano; Edward Vetter; Frances Vogler; Paul Volcker; Robert von der Lieth; Diane von Furstenberg; and Kurt Vonnegut, and Jill Krementz
Wa-We: Clint Wade; Jeanette and Paul Wagner; Phyllis Cerf Wagner; Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood; Herbert Walker; Lou Ann Walker; James Coy Wallace; Mike and Mary Wallace; Lew Wasserman; Wendy Wasserstein; Barbara Walters; Sandy Webster; William Weed; Nancy Weil; L. Arnold Weissberger; John Weitz; Raquel Welch; Kathryn Wellde; Linda Wells; Jessamyn West; and Ruth Westheimer
Wh-Wy: includes Donald Bruce White; Kate White; Michael White; Ruth Whitney; Elie Wiesel; Angela Wilkins; William Williams; Earl Wilson; Phyllis Starr Wilson; Oprah Winfrey; Charles Winston, Jr.; Alex Witchel; Annette Wolfe; Tom Wolfe; Joanne Woodward; Paul Wooland; and Elizabeth Wurtzel
Y-Z: includes Hunter Yager; Maury Yeston; Tessie and Tito Yulo; Darryl and Virginia Zanuck; Dean Zanuck; Harrison Zanuck; Richard (Dick), Linda, and Lili Zanuck; Robin Zanuck; Bobby Zarem; Merla Zellerbach; Paul Zifferen; Ezra and Cecile Zilkha; Dan Zucchi [?]; and Mort Zuckerman
Thank you and congratulatory notes, 1968-2000, n.d.
Public response and fan mail
General, 1969-2000, n.d.
Subjects
Early friends, 1939, 1973, 1981, 1997
Gifts/editor's perquisites
Libraries and museums
Miscellaneous, 1975, 1989-2000
Sophia Smith Collection, 1978-2000
Love letters and poem, 1950-53
Magazine critiques, 1971, 1979, 1981, 1987-89
Philanthropy
General, (includes Kate Michelman of NARAL), 1968-2000
Re: church van for Mary Alford from Hearst Foundation, 1979-80, 1989
Recommendations, 1972-95
Unidentified, 1966-97, n.d.
Television and speaking contracts, 1963-75
Speeches and personal appearances
Correspondence, 1962-2001, n.d.
Programs and publicity, 1962, 1979, 1984, 1998
Texts, circa 1962-96
Oxford debate: text, notes, and flyer, 1986
Television and radio appearances
Correspondence
Response to Sep 1995 Dateline appearance
General: scripts, transcripts, schedules, and notes, circa 1960s, 1975-78, 1985-88, 1999, n.d.
Clippings and advertisements
Re: television show Outrageous Opinions, 1967
Radio spots (syndicated in Canada): scripts
What Should I Do? television pilot: correspondence, scripts, and notes, 1987-88
Books
Publisher and agent, 1960s
Lucy Kroll Agency: correspondence, 1962-64, 1993
Bernard Geis Associates (includes Helen and David Brown, Bernard Geis, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and third party correspondence)
Correspondence, 1961-68, 1989-90
Royalty statements, 1962-65
Book tour itineraries and miscellany, 1962-69
Sex and the Single Girl (includes film version), 1962
Correspondence: general and re: film rights and contract, 1962-66
Draft fragment, manuscript, and book
Condensations and serializations
Promotion
General, 1962-65
U.S. talks, programs, 1962-63
British tour: Telex reports and clippings, 1964
Clippings: general and reviews
Film: clippings and promotional material, 1963-67
Sex and the Office, 1964
Drafts and fragments
Manuscript (includes original manuscript and rewrites with annotations)
Manuscript (continued)
Typesetting copy
Book
Ads and promotion
Outrageous Opinions, 1966
Helen Gurley Brown's Single Girl's Cookbook, 1969
General: notes, press release, and script
Manuscript fragment
Sex and the New Single Girl, 1970
Correspondence, 1969-70
Excerpts and clippings
Having It All, 1982
Correspondence, 1976-84
Early drafts, 1975, n.d.
Early drafts (continued)
Early drafts, manuscript, and book
Publicity
Tour schedules, 1982-83
Publisher's publicity material and catalogs, 1982-85
Publicity packet, 1983?
Best seller lists, 1982-86
Clippings about
Reviews
Syndication and excerpts
Print ads
The Late Show, 1993
Correspondence, 1986-93
Manuscript
Sections not used, miscellaneous draft material, and first draft
First draft (continued)
General: tour schedule and notes, 1993
Writer's Rules, 1998: clipping and correspondence, 1997-98
I'm Wild Again, 2000: correspondence, photo proofs, draft fragment, and manuscript
General: proposals, correspondence, and promotional material, early 1960s, 1984-86, 1996, 2000
Newspaper columns
Proposals: typescripts, drafts, and notes, early 1960s
"Woman Alone" (syndicated column), 1963-65
Correspondence (includes financial material), 1962-65
Typescripts and articles
Apr-Sep 1963
Sep 1963-Apr 1965
Miscellaneous typescripts and clippings of columns
Ads and clippings about, 1963-65
Outrageous Opinions (book compiled from column), 1966
Phonograph albums
Clippings, 1962, 1966
Correspondence (includes royalty statements), 1962-65
Lessons in Love, 1962: script and cover text, typescripts, drafts, and notes
Helen Gurley Brown at Town Hall, 1966: script fragment?
Lessons in Love, 1962, and Helen Gurley Brown at Town Hall, 1966: phonograph albums
Advertising copy
Correspondence (commentary on other's ads), 1971-81, 1991
Copy, 1959, early 1960s, 1994, n.d.
Radio spots (syndicated in Canada)
Television
Proposals: correspondence and drafts, early 1960s
Sitcom script, early 1960s
Short pieces for other's works (forewords, contributions, school projects, quotes, blurbs, etc.): correspondence, writings, and publications including "Elizabeth Taylor's Passion," Somewhere Apart: My Favorite Place in Arkansas, and Teachers Make a Difference, 1976-99
Autobiography/biography
Offers to do biography: correspondence, 1980, 1988-89, 1996-2000
Autobiographical work, unpublished
Drafts, 1962-63, circa late 1990s
Short stories and notes, 1944-74
Plays/theatre
Correspondence, re: ideas, early 1960s
Helen (biographical musical by Brown and Lyn Tornabene), 1970-71
Script
Audiotaped interviews of Brown 1970-71
Magazine and newspaper (free-lance)
General (includes Lifeline proposal by Helen and David Brown, 1967, and Eye masthead, n.d.)
Articles, published and submitted: clippings, drafts, correspondence, and publications, 1956-2000, n.d.
Neue Illustrierte articles: drafts and correspondence, 1963-65
TV Guide article, "How to Outfox New Breed of Macho Men": article and public response mail, 1986
Letters to the editor: clippings and correspondence, 1977-80, 1986-89, 1996, n.d.
Poems, 1940, early 1960s
Fiction: short stories, notes, and fragments, circa 1940s-60 s?
Miscellaneous non-fiction pieces, 1963, n.d.
Notes and journals [?], circa 1965-66, 1974, n.d.
Miscellaneous projects (includes calendar and comic strip proposals), 1964, 1977, 2000
David Brown, early 1960s, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1987
Proposals
"Femme": prospectus, drafts, notes, and proposal, 1964-65
Cosmopolitan, 1965
Advertising and publicity
Advertising and sales presentations and award acceptances: speeches and notes (includes Henry Johnson Fisher award speech), 1973, 1978-96, n.d.
Lunch schedules, 1966-70
New York Times advertisements: ads and copy (written by Brown), 1978-85, 1988-94
Hearst promotional materials: general and press releases, 1965-2000
General, 1967-98, n.d.
Appointment as editor, 1965
Early success of magazine, 1965-71
Interviews with HGB re: Cosmopolitan, 1965, 1980, 1985, n.d.
Circulation and ad campaigns, 1970, 1978-93
Events and appearances, 1982-95
Anniversaries, 1985, 1990, 1995
Specific covers and issues, 1972-95, n.d.
Excerpts from Cosmopolitan articles, 1985-86
International editions, 1971-98
Brown retirement, 1996, 2000
Medill School of Journalism chair, 1985
Compiled by Hearst, 1991, 1996-98
Bahrenburg, D. Claeys (President of Hearst Magazines), 1985-93
Bennack, Frank (President and Chief Executive of Hearst Magazines), 1976-98, n.d.
Berlin, Richard (President and Chief Executive of Hearst Magazines), 1966-73
Black, Cathleen (Publisher of Hearst Magazines), 1999-2000, n.d.
Boisriveaud, Juliette (Editor of Cosmopolitan France), 1974-76
Carter, John Mack (Editor-in-Chief of Good Housekeeping and President of Hearst Magazines), 1975-94
Deems, Richard (President of Hearst Magazines), (includes circulation figures), 1964-92, n.d.
DuPuy, Frank (Vice President and Publisher of Cosmopolitan), 1967-75
Hoyt, Seth (West coast advertising agent), 1988-96
McSharry, Diedre (Editor of Cosmopolitan U.K.), 1973-2000, n.d.
Mansfield, Terry (Managing Director of National Magazine Company Ltd. U.K.), 1988, 1999
Maurer, Gil (President of Hearst Magazines) and Ann, 1975-99, n.d.
Meade, Walter (Managing Editor of Cosmopolitan ), 1974-96, n.d.
Miller, John (Executive Vice President of Hearst Corporation) and Bunny, 1965-76, 1982, 1988-90, n.d.
Miller, Mark and Linda, 1982, 1988-89, 1997
Perkins, Stan (West coast advertising agent), 1975-82, 1988-89, 1996
Porterfield, Lou (Vice President and Publisher of Cosmopolitan), 1978-89, 1996
Letters from Roberta Ashley (Executive Editor of Cosmopolitan), re: quitting smoking, 1971-79
Harvard Lampoon, 1972
Medill School of Journalism (Hearst endowed professorship in Brown's name) from faculty and students, includes press releases, 1987-96
Re: Brown's retirement, 1996-97
Editorial
"Cosmo [format] explained"
General, 1965, late 1970s, 1988-96, n.d.
Art and photography, 1967-72, n.d.
Editing and writing, 1967-71, 1980, 1994-96, n.d.
Article ideas, 1970s, mid 1980s, n.d.
Article inventory, 1985
Editing process (shows article from first submission to final publication), 1984-85
Editing memos (includes article ideas and manuscript), 1969-80, 1988-89, n.d.
Covers, 1987-91
Production schedules, 1985, 1987, 1997
Circulation and miscellaneous statistics, 1968, 1973, 1986, 1989-96, n.d.
Surveys of readers and staff about magazine content (includes Brown's notes), 1987, 1989, 1992-93
Brown's notes, 1969-71, late 1990s, n.d.
Threatened lawsuit, 1983-84
Special issues/features
"Step into My Parlor," 1965, 1970-72, n.d.
"Getting It," (only Cosmopolitan article Brown wrote): drafts and published article, 1994
Centerfold issues: correspondence re: Burt Reynolds and issues of magazine (includes Reynolds and Arnold Schwarzenegger), 1972-80
"Power" article: correspondence, quotes, and lists, 1981
Television shows
Correspondence, includes contract, 1981-83, 1988-91, 1998
A View from Cosmo: interview notes, biographies, schedules, and overview with Brown's notes, circa 1983
Twentieth anniversary, 1985
Elizabeth Taylor interview, 1987
Cassette tape
Transcripts
Article and drafts
Hunk poster, 1991-94 [?]
Last Brown issue: proposed Bill Clinton article correspondence, article ideas, plans, and final issue, 1996-97
Miscellaneous, 1971 [?], 1987
Clipped articles for proposed "best of" issues (includes Brown's favorite article), 1965-1978
Events
NARAL lunch for editors of women's magazines: correspondence, lists of invitees/attendees, planning materials, research, and notes from presentation, 1986
Twenty-fifth anniversary party, Jun 1990
Invitations, attendees lists, and programs
Attendees: includes James Marlas, Mark Goodson, Diane von Furstenberg, Alexandra Mayes Birnbaum, Mort Zuckerman, Art Buchwald, Joy Philbin, Erica Jong, Mort Janklow, Peter Jennings, Iris Love, Beverly Sills, Liz Smith, Tina Brown, Barbara Walters, John Mack Carter, and Irving Lazar
Declined: includes Bill Blass, Connie Chung, Barry Diller, Farrah Fawcett, Hume Cronyn, Angela Lansbury, John Kluge, Jane Fonda, Liza Minelli, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Goldie Hawn, Christie Brinkley, Julio Iglesias, Jimmy Carter, Gloria Vanderbilt, Mia Farrow, and Joan Lunden
Memorabilia and clippings
Visitors to office: correspondence, biographies, and lists, 1973, 1979, 1988-94, n.d.
Early Cosmopolitans, 1887-1894, 1913, n.d. (incomplete)
Miscellany
Awards and tributes (includes honorary LLD from Woodbury University, birthday cards, and gold record from staff), 1985-88
Interview (interview with Liz Smith), 1983
Photographs and artwork, 1961-96
Writings (Neue Illustrierte, Sex and the Single Girl and Sex and the Office posters and advertisements, and Having It All publicity), circa 1963-64, circa 1982
Cosmopolitan
Publicity (includes New York Times advertisements with copy by Brown, Hearst publicity), 1978-85, 1988-94
Circulation statistics, 1973
"Sample article" proofs, 1985
Mock re-design, 1995
Scrapbooks
Portfolio promoting The Helen Gurley Brown Show, circa 1971
San Antonio speech, 1985
Cosmopolitan 25th anniversary, 1990
"Helen" clipboard
Cosmopolitan publicity and tributes from staff, 1985?, 1989-90
Cosmopolitan "hunk" posters, circa 1990s
Charcoal drawing of Brown, 1965