Marilyn Monroe’s Personal Childhood Album of Film Stars

A complete cigarette card album titled An Album of Film Stars, owned by Marilyn Monroe and issued by John Player & Sons, featuring portrait cards and brief biographies of prominent motion picture stars from Hollywood’s golden era. Among those represented are Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Greta Garbo, Robert Montgomery, and many others. Of particular note, young Norma Jeane’s idols Jean Harlow and Clark Gable are also featured.

This album reflects Marilyn’s early fascination with cinema and the personalities who shaped it. Long before she became a star herself, she studied the faces and stories of those who defined Hollywood’s golden age.

From Marilyn Monroe’s Personal Trunk Packed In 1961

This album is part of several personal items Marilyn Monroe placed into her trunk during her final visit to the Monroe Miller farm in Roxbury, Connecticut, in the summer of 1961, following her divorce from Arthur Miller.

Accompanied by Ralph Roberts and her half sister Berniece Miracle, Marilyn gathered deeply personal possessions that Roberts later described as containing “her past.” These objects, ranging from childhood keepsakes to books and personal archives, were carefully preserved by Marilyn at a moment of profound transition in her life.

From the memoirs of Ralph Roberts:

July 12, 1961

MM wanted one last trip to Roxbury to pick up various items, mainly kitchen stuff. Things she gave me included an aluminum orange squeezer, percolator, etc.

Also a footlocker of odds and ends from as she said “her past.” This footlocker contained various things – a Brownie from her Aunt Ana “only it’s black.” She had discussed with Richard Avedon his taking a picture of her taking a picture of him with it. He thought it an idea, but they never got around to it.

Each item from the trunk represents not only an individual artifact, but part of a larger historical narrative. Together, they form one of the most intimate surviving records of Marilyn Monroe’s personal history. Several artifacts from that trip are part of The Marilyn Monroe Collection today:

• Marilyn’s first Kodak Brownie camera
• Marilyn’s personal film and gossip magazine collection
• Marilyn’s childhood Film History Book
• Marilyn Monroe’s Personal Newspaper Clippings

Note that Marilyn’s trunk itself is also part of The Marilyn Monroe Collection. Click here.

The 1995 Christie’s Auction

Among the First Marilyn Monroe Artifacts Ever Offered to the Public

Marilyn Monroe’s trunk and its contents hold an important place not only in her personal history, but in the history of Marilyn Monroe artifact preservation and collecting.

In 1995, the trunk and its contents were offered at auction by Christie’s East. This sale occurred four years before the landmark 1999 Christie’s auction, The Personal Property of Marilyn Monroe, which would later bring global attention to her personal belongings and establish the modern market for Marilyn Monroe artifacts.

At the time of the 1995 auction, very few authenticated personal possessions belonging directly to Marilyn Monroe had ever been made available to the public. The offering of her trunk and its contents represented one of the earliest opportunities for collectors, historians, and institutions to acquire objects that Marilyn Monroe had personally owned, used, and preserved.

Unlike later auctions, which included wardrobe, jewelry, and studio related material, the trunk contained deeply personal items that Marilyn herself had deliberately gathered and kept. These were not objects selected by studios, agents, or estate administrators. They were objects Marilyn chose to save.

The trunk and its contents offered a rare and intimate glimpse into Marilyn Monroe’s private life, containing childhood possessions, books, personal archives, and keepsakes that had accompanied her across decades.

Their appearance at Christie’s in 1995 marked the beginning of the modern era of Marilyn Monroe collecting.

Today, these artifacts stand among the earliest Marilyn Monroe personal effects ever to enter the public record through auction, predating the historic 1999 Christie’s sale that would later define her global auction legacy.