FA NEWLY REVEALED ARCHIVE OF LETTERS, ACTING NOTES, AND PERSONAL EFFECTS OFFERS AN INTIMATE, UNFILTERED PORTRAIT OF ONE OF THE 20TH CENTURY’S MOST ENDURING ICONS
or decades, Marilyn Monroe has existed as both icon and illusion — a carefully constructed image of glamour, vulnerability, and fame that has been endlessly reproduced but rarely understood. Now, a newly revealed archive offers something far rarer: Marilyn, unfiltered.
On June 1, Heritage Auctions will present The Marilyn Monroe Collection from the Estate of Norman and Hedda Rosten, an extraordinary trove of handwritten letters, private notes, poetry, watercolors, documents, and personal effects that trace the actress’s life from 1955 to 1962. The collection — much of it unknown and never before offered at auction — provides one of the most revealing portraits yet of Monroe not as myth, but as a woman navigating relationships, ambition, and emotional complexity.
Among the highlights in Heritage’s June 1 auction featuring The Marilyn Monroe Collection from the Estate of Norman and Hedda Rosten is this intimate handwritten letter from Arthur Miller to Monroe.
These materials capture Monroe in her own voice: candid, searching, witty, and vulnerable. Her writings reflect deeply on love and loss, including her devotion to Arthur Miller and heartbreak following her marriage to Joe DiMaggio. She confronts subjects ranging from a lost pregnancy to emotional fragility and mortality, while also revealing her creative life through poetry, artwork, humor, and intimate correspondence.
For collectors and historians, this archive represents a rare primary source — an unfiltered window into one of the 20th century’s most mythologized figures — forming a powerful narrative of Monroe’s final years in her own words.
The auction also includes a group of Monroe’s handwritten notes on acting, containing anecdotes, guidance, lessons, and motivations for honing her skills.
The collection, presented in partnership with The Fine Art Group, also includes correspondence from Arthur Miller, offering insight into the turbulence of their marriage, and a previously unseen letter from Monroe’s psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson, detailing the day leading up to her death and its immediate aftermath — an account of exceptional historical importance.
“Marilyn Monroe remains one of the most enduring and influential figures in American popular culture, a presence that has shaped generations and continues to captivate us today,” says Joe Maddalena, Executive Vice President of Heritage Auctions. “While her image and story have been revisited time and again, opportunities to encounter her in such a direct and unfiltered way are exceedingly rare. The extraordinary letters and notes preserved through her intimate and trusting relationship with Norman and Hedda Rosten reveal a side of Monroe that has remained largely unseen — deeply personal, searching, and profoundly human. This is not simply a collection of familiar artifacts, but a remarkable archive of primary material that offers fresh insight into her inner world and a true once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for collectors, scholars, and admirers alike.”
A Christian Dior wool skirt suit worn by Monroe on her honeymoon with Joe DiMaggio in January 1954
Monroe met Norman and Hedda Rosten in 1955 through photographer Sam Shaw, forming a close and enduring friendship. The Rostens became part of her inner circle, spending time together in New York, Connecticut, and London, and were among the last to speak with her in her final days.
Monroe shared a particularly meaningful bond with Norman Rosten through their mutual love of poetry, reflected in previously unseen works that reveal a striking dimension of her artistic voice. Hedda later served as Monroe’s assistant, accompanying her to film sets, including The Prince and the Showgirl in London.
Reflecting this closeness, the collection includes Monroe’s personal wardrobe, jewelry, and effects, all gifted to Hedda. Highlights include a Christian Dior wool skirt suit worn during her honeymoon with DiMaggio and jewelry seen in iconic photographs. A circa 1961 phonebook offers a glimpse into her inner circle, listing contacts such as DiMaggio, Miller, Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift, Gene Kelly, Carl Sandburg, Sam Shaw, and Lee and Paula Strasberg.
A Fabergé table clock from Monroe’s New York apartment gifted to Patricia Rosten
Monroe also formed a close bond with the Rostens’ daughter, Patricia, reflected in keepsakes preserved by the family, including an antique Fabergé clock by Henrik Wigström.
Preserved for more than 60 years, this collection represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire some of the most intimate and previously unseen materials from Monroe’s life, offering a deeply personal narrative of her final years. Whereas Marilyn was so often beset by scandal and sexualization in the public eye, these documents — and the love she shared with the Rostens — offer a more intimate and revealing portrait of the actress than ever offered before: caring, loyal, emotionally rich and complex, creative, expressive, funny, charming, misunderstood, and, above all else, deeply human.