A collection of approximately 130 letters from around 90 different women, all written to one southern California man, Steve B., in response to personal ads he placed in the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, and international pen-pal services in the early 1990s. Most of the letters are written in English, but a dozen or so are in Spanish. The majority of correspondents were from California, but women also wrote from Mexico, the Philippines, Czechoslovakia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and Colombia. A few of the California correspondents were incarcerated. Many of the letters are accompanied by one or more photographs, and many have brief notes on them written by Steve after he spoke to the woman on the telephone. He generally noted age, race, and/or physical characteristics (weight, height, hair color, and even bust size), but occasionally added comments such as "loves water sports," "full-time student," or "likes old music."

0.88 Linear Feet 2 boxes

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

The USC Libraries created color photocopies of every item in this collection. The photocopies are held in Box 1 and the original items are stored in Box 2. Users may request access to the redacted photocopies in Box 1. The original correspondence and photographs, held in Box 2, include sensitive personally identifiable information. Access to the original documents held in Box 2 will be closed for research until January of 2064, which is approximately 70 years following the material's creation.