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Official account for the Scott Fortner #marilynmonroe Collection, the world’s largest private collection of Monroe’s personal property & archives.

Today’s highlight is a very special artifact fro

Today’s highlight is a very special artifact from the collection: Marilyn Monroe’s personal photograph of her Aunt Ana Lower. Ana was the paternal aunt of Grace Goddard, who was Marilyn’s legal guardian and foster mother when she was a young child. Marilyn was so close to Ana that she called her “Aunt Ana,” which is written on the back of this photograph in Marilyn’s own handwriting (photo #2). Photo #3 shows a young Norma Jeane with her Aunt Ana, circa 1939. Ana is credited with gifting a young Norma Jeane her very first camera, which was a Brownie Target 620. That camera is also part of the Marilyn Monroe Collection today (photo #4). Ana was born in 1880, and passed away in 1948. She is buried in the same cemetery as Marilyn, Westwood Village Memorial Park (photo #5). One of the reasons’s Westwood was selected as Marilyn’s final resting place is because some of her childhood foster family members had been laid to rest there. Grace Goddard is buried at Westwood as well (photo #6).

#marilynmonroe

Something’s Got to Give. 🌹 1962 #marilynmo

Something’s Got to Give.
🌹
1962

#marilynmonroe

An interesting item from the collection: A vinta

An interesting item from the collection: A vintage filing cabinet marked “W.H. Harper Co./ Devon/ El Segundo.”

This filing cabinet is one of two that Marilyn Monroe owned. These cabinets, one gray and this tan one, contained nearly five thousand documents, including letters, telegrams, bills, receipts, financial records and cancelled bank checks, cataloging in great detail countless personal and business records and transactions, from childhood until death, for Monroe. They encompassed Marilyn’s complete personal archives. All of the invoices, receipts, personal files, financial documents, bank checks and letters to Marilyn Monroe that are currently part of this Marilyn Monroe collection came from these two filing cabinets.

Marilyn purchased the two filing cabinets in 1958 and kept them in the study of her New York apartment. When Marilyn purchased her new home in Brentwood at the end of January, 1962, she had both cabinets shipped to her in California. This tan cabinet was sent to Marilyn’s suite at Twentieth Century Fox, and the gray one was sent to her home on 5th Helena Drive.

After Marilyn’s death in August of 1962, Inez Melson, Marilyn’s former business manager, was appointed administrator of Marilyn’s estate. Melson had this tan file cabinet shipped to her home office. Melson had an estate auction, in which it’s believed she bought the gray cabinet under the name of her nephew, Walter Davis. She kept the cabinets and their contents in her Hollywood Hills home for forty-five years until her death. She passed away in 1986, and she left the cabinets and files to her sister-in-law Ruth Conroy. In 2001 when Ruth passed away the cabinets were left to her son. As Marilyn left her estate to her acting coach Lee Strasberg, these cabinets and their contents were eventually transitioned back to the Marilyn Monroe estate and the Strasberg family.

The filing cabinets and their contents were featured in the book MM-Personal, released in 2011.

Is that the original padlock?
I believe it is.

What do you keep in the cabinet?
All documents from her personal archives that I own, along with all photographs of her that I’ve collected. #marilynmonroe

Monroe, Halsman, ‘49. #marilynmonroe

Monroe, Halsman, ‘49. #marilynmonroe

One of my favorite items in the collection: Marily

One of my favorite items in the collection: Marilyn’s personal LBD. It’s a hand-tailored, one of a kind cocktail dress in black silk, sleeveless with a plunging, gathered neckline and a back zipper; with the bottom hem having weights sewn into the lining to keep the dress lying flat when worn by Marilyn.

Marilyn wore this dress to an event held by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, where her husband, Arthur Miller, was recognized for receiving their Gold Medal for Drama Award on May 20, 1959 in New York City. (See photo #2 from that event.)

#marilynmonroe

Marilyn, 1955, believed to be by Frieda Hull of th

Marilyn, 1955, believed to be by Frieda Hull of the Monroe Six. ✨ #marilynmonroe

Recently on Exhibit: The delicate lace fan used by

Recently on Exhibit: The delicate lace fan used by Marilyn Monroe in the ballroom scene in The Prince and the Showgirl. It’s shown here as part of the Marilyn Monroe exhibit on display at @chinesetheatres in Hollywood, CA. The exhibit was part of 60th anniversary Marilyn Monroe Memorial Week festivities, hosted by @marilynremembered . The fan is now part of the Marilyn Monroe Collection. #marilynmonroe

Marilyn, 1955. Describe her here in one word. 💕

Marilyn, 1955. Describe her here in one word. 💕 #marilynmonroe

August 8, 1962: Goodbye Norma Jeane. Pallbearers

August 8, 1962: Goodbye Norma Jeane. Pallbearers assist in placing the marble over Marilyn’s crypt after she’s laid to rest. Seen here are Sidney Guilaroff and Allan “Whitey” Snyder. From the eulogy delivered by Lee Strasberg: "Now it is at an end. I hope her death will stir sympathy and understanding for a sensitive artist and a woman who brought joy and pleasure to the world. I cannot say goodbye. Marilyn never liked goodbyes, but in the peculiar way she had of turning things around so that they faced reality – I will say au revoire. For the country to which she has gone, we must all someday visit." #marilynmonroe