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Correspondence, outlines and drafts, manuscripts, letters of agreement, contracts, photographs, artwork, and memorabilia. The collection is divided into two parts: the Frederic Dannay papers and the files of ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE (EQMM). The Dannay papers consist of extensive correspondence with most of the notable mystery writers of this century, as well as well-known authors who sometimes wrote in that genre: Isaac Asimov; Lawrence Block; Ray Bradbury; Pearl S Buck; Edgar Rice Burroughs; James M. Cain; Raymond Chandler; Agatha Christie, etc. Most of the novels and short stories written by Dannay and Lee are represented in manuscript form: "The Roman Hat Mystery;" "Ten Day's Wonder;" "Cat of Many Tails;" "The Scarlet Letters;" "The Glass Village;" "The Player on the Other Side;" "And on the Eighth Day" etc. In addition, there are the manuscripts of books edited by Ellery Queen; manuscripts by Ellery Queen Jr.; scripts by Ellery Queen; poetry by Dannay; contracts between Dannay and Lee, as well as between them both as Ellery Queen and numerous parties. There are also manuscripts by such notables as Jorge Luis Borges; Erskine Caldwell; Raymond Chandler; Agatha Christie; Stanley Ellin; William Faulkner; Dashiell Hammett; O Henry; Nigel Morland; Georges Simenon; Muriel Spark; Julian Symons; Roy Vickers; and Cornell Woolrich.

Correspondence with André Gide, the manuscripts and notes for his biography PORTRAIT OF ANDRÉ GIDE, and for his translations of the JOURNALS OF ANDRÉ GIDE, SO BE IT, and PRETEXTS, and other notes and articles about André Gide. Also, correspondence with many contemporary French writers including Albert Camus, Jean Cocteau, Julian Green, Valéry Larbaud, Jean Malaquais, Roger Martin du Gard, André Maurois, Henry de Montherlant, and Georges Simenon. Prof. O'Brien translated works by Baidouy, Albert Camus, Jean Cocteau, Henry de Montherlant, Nathalie Sarraute, and Jean-Paul Sartre; the typescript of Camus' L'EXILE ET LE ROYAUME is of special interest. Professor O'Brien's files cover a broad range of French culture including correspondence with other French scholars, educational organizations, editors, publishers (notably Blanche W. Knopf), with members of the OSS in wartime France, and with other literary figures such as Gilbert Highet, Dwight Macdonald, and Klaus Mann.