The collection documents the professional and personal lives of science fiction author Robert Heinlein and his wife, Virginia Heinlein. Materials in the collection include manuscripts, short stories, articles, book reviews, screen plays, television and radio programs, personal and professional correspondence, legal and financial papers, illustrations, photographs, slides, scrapbooks, yearbooks, memorabilia, and realia.

Robert Anson Heinlein was born July 7, 1907, in Butler, Missouri and died May 8, 1988, in Carmel, California. Son of Rex Ivar, an accountant and Bam Lyle Heinlein, he was the third of seven children. He married Elinor Curry in 1929 but they divorced in 1931. His second marriage to Leslyn McDonald lasted from 1932 until their divorce in 1947. He married his third wife, Virginia Doris Gerstenfeld, on October 21, 1948 and stayed with her until his death in 1988. None of the marriages produced any children.Virginia G. Heinlein was born on April 22, 1916 in Brooklyn, New York, to George (a dentist) and Jeanne Gerstenfeld and had one younger brother, Leon. She died in Florida on January 18, 2003. Virginia attended New York University, majoring in chemistry where she lettered in swimming, diving, basketball, and field hockey. She also reached national competitive levels in figure skating, the sport that became her lifelong passion. In time, she came to speak over seven languages, including French, Latin, Italian, and Russian.

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