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The Pink and The Blue: Lesbian and Gay Life at Yale and in Connecticut, 1642-2004

Several months before graduating, Matthiessen discussed what he called his "twisted psychology" with a few intimate friends in New Haven (his fellow Skull and Bones members). This confession, which he described in a letter to a friend, apparently caused no great commotion. Yale’s class of 1923 voted him orator and deacon, and honored Matthiessen as he who had worked hardest and "done most" for Yale.

Matthiessen was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1924. On the boat to England, Matthiessen met the painter Russell Cheney, Class of 1904. The two remained intimate companions until Cheney’s death, in 1945.

Russell Cheney. His Yale classbook indicates that Cheney was called "Black-eye," "Beauty," and "Rat," later Matthiessen’s nickname for him. The classbook refers to "Rat’s beautiful black eyes" and to his having "smiled his way into Yale, and incidentally, into the hearts of his classmates."

Matthiessen’s letters to Cheney struggle, without guidelines, to define their relationship, and constitute major, moving documents of gay American history. In one letter, Matthiessen says:

"That there have been other unions like ours is obvious, but we are unable to draw on their experience. We must create everything for ourselves."

www.yale.edu/lesbiangay/Pages/Archive/PNB16.html

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
So, did they find his head?

One could hope.

-F

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