Descriptive Summary
Edgar H. Leoni papers
1935-1995.
(bulk
1956-1985).
Coll2007-019
Leoni, Edgar H., 1925-
6 archive cartons + 1 archive
shoebox. 3 linear feet.
ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives.
Los Angeles, California 90007
The collection consists of correspondence,
writings, drafts, copies, research files, diaries, photographs, and
miscellaneous ephemera, of Edgar H. Leoni, author under his real name of
Nostradamus: Life and Literature (1961),
and under his pseudonym of Noel I. Garde of
Jonathan to Gide: The Homosexual in
History (1964). Languages
represented in the collection: English
Access
The collection is open to researchers. There are no access
restrictions.
Publication Rights
Researchers wishing to publish materials must obtain permission in
writing from ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives as the physical owner.
Researchers must also obtain clearance from the holder(s) of any copyrights in
the materials. Note that ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives can grant
copyright clearance only for those materials for which we hold the copyright.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain copyright clearance for
all other materials directly from the copyright holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Box #, folder #, Edgar H. Leoni Papers, Coll2007-019, ONE National Gay
and Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California.
Acquisition Information
Acquired about 1995. Precise date and means of acquisition unknown.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Michael P. Palmer, December 31, 2007.
Biography
Edgar Hugh Leoni was born in 1925. He graduated BA from Harvard in 1945,
and later earned an MA from Columbia. He worked in the insurance industry in
New York City, and retired to Clearwater, Florida.
Leoni's intellectual interests were the work of Nostradamus and the
homosexual in literature and history. His
Nostradamus: Life and LiteratureNostradamus:
Life and Literature (New York 1961) was in its time considered the standard
work on the subject. He published on homosexual themes under the name "Noel I.
Garde", an anagram of his real name. As Garde he published
The Homosexual in Literature (New York 1959)
and
Jonathan to Gide: The Homosexual in
HistoryJonathan to Gide: The Homosexual in History (New York 1964), and
contributed articles, book reviews, and notes to both the
Mattachine Review and the
ONE Institute Quarterly in the late 1950s
and early 1960s.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection consists of correspondence, drafts and copies of Leoni's
writings, both under his real name and under his pseudonym of Noel I. Garde,
research files on the occult and on gays in literature and history, diaries,
photographs, and miscellaneous ephemera. The collection is divided into five
series: (1) Correspondence, (2) Writings, (3) Research Files, (4) Personal, and
(5) Miscellaneous.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Astrology
Diaries
Garde, Noel
I.
Homosexuality--History
Homosexuality in
literature--Bibliography
Jonathan to Gide
Leoni, Edgar H., 1925-
ONE, Inc
Prophecies (Occultism)
Collection Contents
Series 1:
Correspondence
1956-1993.
1 : 1-8
9 folders.
Series Scope and Content
This series consists of Leoni's correspondence, both under his own
name and the pseudonym Noel I. Garde. The Leoni correspondence contains a
notable series of letters to and from John Wojtowicz and George Heath relating
to the former (whose fictionalized story is told in Sidney Lumet's 1975 film,
Dog Day Afternoon). Much of the Garde
correspondence with ONE appears to have been added to the collection after its
acquisition by ONE from ONE's own files: the letters are Leoni's originals,
stamped with the date they were received by ONE.
Leoni
1946-1995
1 : 1-9
General
1959-1994
1 : 1
Mark Bassett
1980-1981
1 : 2
Booksellers
1956-1993
1 : 3
Forman Brown ("Richard Meeker")
circa
1980-19911 : 4
ONE, Inc.
1960
1 : 5
Ned Rorem
1946-1995
1 : 6
John Wojtowicz & George Heath
1975-1981
1 : 7
Garde
1958-1980
1 : 8-9
General
circa
1970-19801 : 8
ONE, Inc.
1958-1965
1 : 9
Series 2:
Writings
circa
1942-1985. 1 : 10-15 ; 2
: 1-10
16 folders.
Series Scope and Content
This series consists of drafts of Leoni's writings, together with
relevant correspondence, notes, and research materials. The majority of the
articles, essays, biographical sketches, and book reviews written under his
Garde pseudonym were intended for publication by ONE. Many of the materials are
stamped with the date of receipt by ONE and are accompanied by ONE's
publications committee, recommending publication or rejection, suggesting that,
like the Garde correspondence with ONE, they were added to the collection after
its acquisition by ONE, from ONE's own files.
The Homosexual in Literature
(Garde)
1959
1 : 10
Photocopy
1959
1 : 10
Nostradamus (Leoni)
circa
1942-1993 1 : 11-15 ; 2 :
1-4
Correspondence
1968-1994
1 : 11
Dust Jackets & Table of Contents
1961-1982
1 : 12
Library Holdings, Sales, Returns
circa
1961-1970 1 :
13
Notes
circa
1960-19941 :
14
Pamphlets & Articles
circa
1942-19821 :
15
Publicity
1961-1985
2 : 1
Spiegel Article
1981
2 : 2
Texts. English
no date
2 : 3
Texts. French
no date
2 : 4
Jonathan to Gide (Garde)
1964-1971,
1984
2 : 5-7
Correspondence
1969-1971,
1984
2 : 5
Dust Jacket
1964
2 : 6
Library Sales, Gifts, Returns
circa
1965-19712 : 7
Articles, Essays & Biographical Sketches
(Garde)
circa
1960-19852 : 8
Book Reviews (Garde)
circa
1957-19632 : 9
Fiction
circa
1960-19852 :
10
Series 3:
Research Files
1953-1985.
2 : 11-19 ; 3 : 1-16; 4 : 1-3;
7
28 folders + 1 box of note slips.
Series Scope and Content
This series contains general research files. The most significant
item is a file containing several hundred 6-by-4 inch slips of paper containing
detailed analyses of English-language fiction with homosexual characters and
themes, perhaps preparatory to an unrealized update to Young's 1975 The Male
Homosexual in Literature. The materials also include transcripts of graffiti
found in railroad and bus terminals between 1949 and 1959 and a handwritten
transcript of
Priapea sive diversorum poetarum in Priapum
lusus.
Astrology & the Third Reich
(Ellic Howe). Miscellaneous Photocopies
1984
2 : 11
Biology Notes
circa
1960-19852 :
12
Chronology Chart, 395-1915. Part 1
(385-1453)
1935
2 : 13
Cordan, Wolfgang. "Days with Antonio"
1960
2 : 14
Erotic Book Flyers
circa
1960-1970 2 :
15
European Royalty. Genealogy
circa
1960-19852 :
16
Excerpts from Other Authors
circa
1960-19852 :
17
Geography
1964-1988
2 : 18
Graffiti (Train/Bus Stations)
1949-1959
2 : 19
Hemingway, Ernest.
Suppressed Poems
circa 1960
3 : 1
Homosexuality Bibliography
1970-1977
3 : 2-4
Parker, William.
Homosexual
Bibliography
1970-1977
3 : 2
Young, Ian.
The Male Homosexual in
Literature
1975
3 : 3
Homosexuality Bibliographies & Book
Lists
circa
1960-19853 : 4
Summaries of English-language fiction with homosexual
characters and themes
circa
1958-1987 7
1 box of paper slips (4 x 6
inches)
Human Rights Practices for 1993, Country Reports on (103d
Congress, 2d Session)
1994
3 : 5
Miscellaneous Notes
circa
1960-19853 : 6
Newspaper Clippings
1941-1992
3 : 7
Newspaper Clippings. Yukio Mishima
1958-1974
3 : 8
Palaeontology
circa
1960-19853 : 9
Photocopies, Miscellaneous
no date
3 : 10
Priapea sive diversorum poetarum in Priapum
lusus. Transcript (manuscript)
circa
1960-19853 :
11
Prokosch, Frederic.
The Asiatics
circa 1941
3 : 12
Roberts, Hermese E.
The Third Ear: A Black
Glossary
1971
3 : 13
Photocopy.
Rochester, John Willmott, Earl of.
Rochester's Sodom (1904). Transcript
(typescript)
circa
1960-1985 3 :
14
Saul, John.
Sins of the Cities of the Plain
(1881)
circa
1960-1985 3 :
15
Photocopy.
Sexology; Sex Science
Magazine
June 1953
3 : 16
Symmonds, John Addington.
A Problem in Greek Ethics
(1901)
circa
1960-1985 4 :
1
Photographic copy.
Weston, Patrick (Gerald Hamilton).
Desert Dreamers (1914)
circa
1960-1985 4 :
2
Photocopy.
Windham, Donald.
The Hitchhiker (1950)
circa
1960-1985 4 :
3
Photocopy.
Series 4:
Personal
1935-1993.
4: 4-11 ; 5 : 1-12; 6 :
1-7
19 volumes + 8 folders.
Series Scope and Content
This series contains documents of a personal nature, including
extensive diaries from 1935 to 1993, as well as materials relating to Leoni's
status as a Harvard alumnus, including a copy of the 1941 freshman class
yearbook and his correspondence with Harvard Magazine. The photographs appear
to document a visit to Europe in the late 1940s or early 1950s.
Diaries
1935-1993
5 : 1-12 ; 6 : 1-7
January-May
1935 5 :
1
1938
5 : 2
1939
5 : 3
Locked.
1940
5 : 4
Locked.
1941
5 : 5
Locked.
1942
5 : 6
Locked.
1943
5 : 7
1944
5 : 8
Locked.
1945
5 : 9
1946
5 : 10
1947
5 : 11
1948-1952
5 : 12
1953-1957
6 : 1
1958-1962
6 : 2
1963-1967
6 : 3
1968-1972
6 : 4
1973-1977
6 : 5
1983-1987
6 : 6
1993
6 : 7
Harvard
1941-circa
1995 4 : 4-11
Harvard Class of 1945. Freshman Yearbook
1941
4 : 4
Harvard Class of 1945. Newspaper Clippings
circa
1945-19554 : 5
Harvard Class of 1945 in Print
circa 1995
4 : 6
Harvard Magazine
1977-1991
4 : 7
Class Notes (Government)
circa
1941-1945 4 :
8
Miscellaneous
1975
4 : 9
Christmas Cards
circa 1990
4 : 10
Photographs
circa
1945-19604 :
11
Series 5:
Miscellaneous
circa
1960-1985 3 : 8 ; 5 :
8-14
8 items.
Series Scope and Content
This series contains miscellaneous materials found in the
collection, including graphics of homosexual erotic images and ephemera with
both homosexual and heterosexual erotic images.
Graphics
circa
1960-19854 :
12
Microfilm (unidentified)
no date
6 : 8
Microfilm (unidentified)
no date
6 : 9
Climax 69 Playing Cards (heterosexual)
circa
1960-19756 :
10
DSI Playing Cards (homosexual)
circa
1960-19756 :
11
Coin of Elizabeth II in lucite
1965
6 : 12
Miss Demontagia (German)
circa
1960-19756 :
13
Keyholder with color male physique
transparency
circa
1960-19756 :
14