Love and Money (1926-52)

This section covers James Merrill’s early years, from solitary life as the only son of Charles Merrill, co-founder of Merrill Lynch, and Hellen Plummer, a Southern debutante, to his young adulthood as a closeted gay man and talented lyric poet finding independence from his broken childhood home. He found this liberation in writing, love affairs, and a pivotal trip to Europe when he became "a different person." Highlights of this section include:

• A childhood note from Merrill to his beloved governess, Zelly
• Two letters related to Hans Lodeizen, a close friend and inspiration who died in his twenties of leukemia. 
• An entry from one Merrill’s first journals, while he was a student at the Lawrenceville School; and an entry from 1945 recounting his mother’s discovery of his affair with Kimon Friar, Merrill's teacher and literary mentor.
• Merrill’s earliest poem, “Looking at Mummy,” which partly inspired “The Broken Home.” 
• Drafts toward other autobiographical poems that looked to his early years for inspiration: “Days of 1935,” “Days of 1941 and ‘44” and “Lost in Translation.” 
• Snapshots of Merrill with his parents, as a baby and as boy.
• Pages from Merrill's baby book. 
• Two remnants of Merrill’s childhood creativity: a “dancing lady” and a program from one of his marionette plays.
• Clippings from newspapers covering Charles and Hellen’s contentious divorce. 
• Scans from North Star, Frederick Buechner’s and Merrill’s privately-printed book of sonnets during their college years.