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Scope and Contents |
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The Gerold Frank Collection consists of nearly 19 linear feet of notebooks and draftnotes,
manuscripts, original and carbon copies of typescripts, research materials including
clippings, brochures, advertisements and other printed materials, transcripts of speeches
and interviews, reports, and photographs documenting the bulk of Frank's work in the
mid-1960's. The materials are arranged in six series: I. The Boston
Strangler , 1960-1968, undated (11 linear feet); II. The
Deed , 1937-1966, undated (3 linear feet); III. Latin
American Mission , 1959-1967, undated (4.25 linear feet); IV. Hippies, 1967,
undated (0.15 linear feet); V. The Marlene Dietrich Story, 1965, undated (0.15 linear
feet);
and VI. "The Tragedy of Chaplin's Children," 1964-1965
(0.35 linear feet). |
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The bulk of the papers are located in two subseries of The Boston
Strangler series: A. Research Materials, 1963-1966, undated (4 linear feet) and B.
Drafts, 1965-1966, undated (4 linear feet). Research Materials include four sub-subseries:
Working Files (1962-1966, 2 linear feet); DeSalvo Materials, including his several
confessions, (1965-1966, 1 linear foot); Notebooks (1964-1966, 0.5 linear feet); and
Other
Related Materials (1964-1967, 1 linear foot). The papers bulk again, to a lesser extent,
in
Drafts (1961-1964, 2.25 linear feet) of the Latin American
Mission series. |
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Each series is organized first with a Research Materials subseries followed by a Drafts
subseries, except for the Hippies and The Marlene Dietrich Story series (Frank abandoned
both projects). one of the series has a Correspondence subseries and one a Printed
Materials
subseries. Beyond this, they are not consistent either in form or quantity of material,
and
types of material mingle throughout (e.g., in Latin American
Mission, draft notes appear in Research Materials and research materials appear in
Drafts) yet, insofar as possible, all series except the first maintain original order.
Because of this, the collection is revealing of Frank's working methods as well as
of the
development of a work through numerous drafts. The large amount of information in
the
research materials demonstrates areas of popular and topical interest in the mid-1960's:
the
continuing popularity of Dietrich and Chaplin, a study of an alleged serial-killer
in The Boston Strangler series, Zionism, political dissent and
assassination in The Deed , as well as the role of the U.S.
in Latin America during the percieved threat of the spread of communism by way of
Cuba
during the Presidency of John F. Kennedy in the early 1960's. |
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A substantial amount of preservation photocopying was done throughout the six series,
primarily of clippings. These materials were largely without order when processed,
so the
decision was made in most instances to leave the anomalies in place and effort was
taken to
label these materials clearly as to their content. |
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Series Descriptions |
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Series I. The Boston Strangler,
1960-1968 (11 linear feet) |
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Manuscript drafts, corrected typescript, galleys and page proofs, photocopied documents
and
reports, and printed material, created and assembled by Gerold Frank in the research
and
production of The Boston Strangler (1966). Arranged in three
subseries: A. Research Materials, B. Drafts, and C. Printed Materials, the series
bulks in
Research Materials, 1960-1966, (4 linear feet) and Drafts, 1965-1967, (4.25 linear
feet).
The Research Materials subseries begins with Frank's Working Files and retain the
folder
headings and arrangment as created by Frank. They are neither chronological nor alphabetical
in order, and contain a range of materials, from reports and typescript interviews
to
clippings. Some dates have been supplied in processing and bulk from 1963 to 1965.
Notebooks, also with dates supplied, span 1964 to 1966, though many are largely unfilled.
There are two substantial files pertaining to F. Lee Bailey, attorney for the accused
Boston
Strangler, Albert DeSalvo. The remaining materials are typescript source material,
legal,
medical and psychological evaluations and reports from various branches of law enforcement,
DeSalvo's confessions and three boxes of material designated as "disparate leaves."
Manuscripts include drafts of the book and of smaller sections, such as the afterword,
corrected typescript, printer's copy, page proofs, and galleys. The photocopy printer's
copy
was returned with a letter from Frank's publisher, New American Library, attached,
with
additional corrections and editor's and proofreader's marks. The book was published
as a
condensation in the Ladies Home Journal in 1966 and the
subseries includes this photocopied typescript and proofs. Also included are the galleys
and
Frank's introduction to Casebook of a crime psychologist, by Dr. Bernard Blume, who
was
involved in the Strangler case. Printed Materials, 1962-1968, (2.5 linear feet) contains
press releases, reviews and entire newspapers, with the dates bulking from 1967 to
1968.
Clippings make up the bulk of the subseries; Frank subscribed to a clippings service
which
diligently collected the slightest reference to the strangler crimes, Albert DeSalvo,
the
book, the film and it's cast, and references to other subjects of interest to Frank,
such as
Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of Martin Luther King. Notable are a small
number of
clippings from German newspapers, in German. The dates of the series bulk from 1966
to 1967,
with the later dates from clippings almost exclusively. |
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Series II. The Deed 1937-1963 (2.75
linear feet) |
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Research materials, manuscripts, and correspondence make up the materials created
and
maintained by Frank as he researched and wrote the nonfiction book, The Deed (1963). The bulk dates occur from 1961 to 1963. Arranged as received at
the Ransom Center, the records maintain their original order, including some scattered
manuscript leaves, clippings and correspondence. With the exception of photocopied
brittle
material and clippings, the condition of the material ranges from fair to poor. The
bulk
lies in manuscripts, which reflect various stages of the writing process. Notable
among
these as representatives of the writing process are the final draft for Simon &
Schuster, several copies of the typescript, and loose leaves of manuscript with notes
and
suggestions between Frank and his editor, Joseph Barnes. |
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The embryonic version of The Deed appears in the untitled
book project which Frank sent to his literary agent, Helen Strauss, along with a letter.
Roughly one-third of the records consists of research materials used by Frank as he
wrote
The Deed. Among these records is background material on the
assassins, such as Bet Zouri records consisting of the family history as told by Bet
Zouri's
father, transcripts of interviews with Bet Zouri's family and associates, and interviews
with Hakim's family and associates. Interviews of Stern Gang members as well as their
associates are present among the records. Included are additional materials on Sternist
Terrorist Activities, covering 1936 to 1942. The Moyne Correspondence records are
not an
exchange between Moyne and Frank, but rather exchanges between Frank and those involved
with
the planning and execution of Moyne's assassination and others associated with them
or the
assassination. The majority of the research materials, however, are press releases
of the
trial and the hanging (1945-1947) and largely attributed to Frank as he was a correspondent
covering these events. |
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Series III. The Latin American Mission,
1959-1967 (4.25 linear feet) |
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Materials documenting Franks work editing and providing the introduction to Latin American Mission: An Adventure in Hemisphere Diplomacy
(1965) is arranged in three subseries: Research Materials, 1959-1964 (2.25 linear
feet);
Drafts, 1961-1967 (2 linear feet); and Correspondence, 1964 (1 folder). The first
subseries
contains information in many formats including interviews and newspaper clippings.
In the
second subseries the appearance of multiple drafts shows Frank's rewriting process.
The last
series contains several letter drafts to Morrison's brother with respect to Gerold
Frank's
payment. These papers provide an insider's account of President John F. Kennedy's
Good
Neighbor Policy in Latin America (1961-1963), especially the Alliance for Progress
vis-a-vis
a perceived threat of the hemispheric spread of communism as is evidenced by Organization
of
American States (O.A.S.) bulletins, transcripts of O.A.S. Ambassador DeLesseps S.
Morrison's
speeches, and clippings from newspapers in both the United States and in Latin America
(Morrison's aide, Winston Lill, attached many notes signed with a "W" to this material).
Such files as those regarding the Trujillo Family and the Dominican Republic, the
Punta del
Este Conferences, Richard Goodwin (presidential aide for Latin America) in Chile,
Kaiser
Industries in Argentina, and the Cuban Missile Crisis provide further information
on U.S.
involvement and Ambassador Morrison's role in Latin America. |
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Series IV. Hippies, 1967 (0.15 linear feet) |
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Hippies was a proposed book length study abandoned bu Frank because of legal complications.
This series consists of notes and drafts about hippies, among which are several pages
referring to the childhood of Lee Harvey Oswald. |
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Series V. The Marlene Dietrich Story, 1965 (0.15 linear
feet) |
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The series built around The Marlene Dietrich Story, a proposed biography that Frank
also
abandoned, includes research materials consisting of clippings and notes, and correspondence
consisting of letters between friends of Marlene Dietrich and Frank. |
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Series VI. "The Tragedy of Chaplin's
Children," 1964-1965 (0.35 linear feet) |
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"The Tragedy of Chaplin's Children" contains research
materials consisting of correspondence and interview notes and drafts This article
appeared
in Ladies' Home Journal (May 1965). |
