Scope and arrangement
The Frank Hogan papers date from 1933 to 1997 and document the playwright's professional writing and personal interests. The collection chiefly consists of correspondence and scripts.
The professional files contain writings, correspondence, sound recordings, and drafts of an interview (1986) of Hogan by Linda Melrose for her dissertation The Creative Personality and the Creative Process: A Qualitative Perspective. The interview provides a detailed personal history of Hogan, and closely examines the nature of a writer's creativity in relation to rebellion, sexual activity and other aspects of life. Writings consist of play scripts, poetry, and a typescript of Hogan's unpublished novel The Joshua People. Sound recordings consist of songs written by Hogan for his plays, including "A Face Worth Saving" for the play of the same name, "Nancy's Reply," and recordings the play Fin MacKool, the Grand Distraction. Sound recordings are currently unavailable pending digitization.
The personal papers consist of correspondence, notes, catalogs, and ephemera, dealing primarily with Hogan's sadomasochistic homosexual preferences and activities. A small amount of photographs, passports, and personal items are also present. The correspondence, notes, and catalogs document the distinctive rituals and practices of homosexual sadomasochistic relationships. The letters often contain references to the Everard Baths, leather bars and other gathering spots, and provide unusual documentation of one aspect of gay life, particularly before the AIDS epidemic took the lives of thousands of gay men (including some of the correspondents in this collection) and dramatically altered the lives of those who escaped infection.
Correspondence primarily consists of letters from men who made contact with Hogan through ads placed in Drummer, a sadomasochistic gay monthly magazine. In some cases the letters are from men Hogan would never meet or have a sexual relationship with. These letters are of particular significance because they are generally lengthy and introspective, and provide extraordinary insights into the psychohistory of masochistic gay men.
Catalogs and ephemera are primarily from vendors selling leather and other sadomasochistic devices and accouterments, and a partial copy of a spiral-bound publication entitled The Care and Training of the Male Slave.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into two broad categories: Professional Files and Personal Files.