Contains mostly love letters from Hamill to Alexandra Fredericks. These letters span the years when the couple first met, in 1937, to Hamill's death in 1953. A few letters by other persons, both to and from Hamill are also included. These few include handwritten letters by Fredericks.

Alexandra Fredericks was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1897 and attended schools there and in Rostov. Her brothers and husband (a cousin also surnamed Fredericks) were killed during the Bolshevik uprising. After the revolution, she went to Paris and joined her brother’s widow, Ganna Walska, a well-known Polish opera singer and hostess at numerous social gatherings that attracted famous artists. Alexandra later emigrated to the United States with Mme. Walska, who had married Harold McCormick, and was naturalized in 1932. Fredericks was much interested in Russian life and intellectuals, a popular interest in those years. In fact, she authored two articles which were published in The Russian Review. She was a guest at many parties given in the McCormick Mansion on Rush Street in Chicago. During one in 1937, she met Alfred Hamill, who was immediately entranced with her. It was the beginning of a long loving relationship, and Hamill supported her in the Drake Towers for the remainder of his life.