There were 1,131 letters from Eliot to Hale deposited in Princeton University Library in 1956; they were made accessible to the public on January 2, 2020.

[3] Her mother Emily (née Milliken) had become a "permanent mental invalid" after the death of her infant son.

After her father died in 1918, she took a job as a dorm matron at Simmons University (then College), where she had helped organize the drama club as a volunteer in 1916.

[1][2][3] Hale was an active member of the Unitarian Church and also the League of Women Voters, and she was a volunteer at the Sophia Smith Collection.

From 1930 until 1956, Eliot wrote more than a thousand letters to Hale,[11] visiting her in California over the New Year's holidays in 1932–33, before deciding to seek a formal separation from his wife when he returned to England in 1933.

"[16] After her retirement, Hale acted in a number of well-received community theater productions, and kept in contact with her friends and past students.

[16] She also taught for a period at Oak Grove School in Vassalboro, Maine, and finally died in Concord, Massachusetts.

[8] From 1942, she explored with Thorp the idea of keeping Eliot's letters in the Princeton University Library for safekeeping, finally deciding to do this in July 1956.

[15][8][18] The letters included information about the evolving relationship between Hale and Eliot, and in some cases contradicted established published sources.

[20] In a surprise to scholars, Eliot's estate simultaneously issued a written statement by him to be opened on the release of Hale's letters.

[22][23][24] After an initial review of the letters, Eliot scholar Frances Dickey told The Washington Post that "he basically confesses his love for Emily Hale and tells her that she's the great love of his life", and "that he's been writing for her all of these years, and he even names the places in his poetry where he has paid tribute to her or honored her in some way".