Princeton University has announced that the letters from the Anglo-American poet T. S. Eliot to his friend and “muse” Emily Hale have finally been opened for research, as from 2 January 2020. This follows one of the longest and most famous closures to the public of a literary archive. Emily Hale gave the letters to Princeton, over 60 years ago, on condition that they should be closed to the public for 50 years after her death or Eliot’s, whichever was the later. Eliot died in 1965 and Hale in 1969.

The letters are now fully open for study. “Researchers can access the collection on a first-come, first-served basis in Firestone Library’s Special Collections, located on C floor.”

Read the full story on the Princeton University website, here.