Jack Kerouac, “Correspondence to Neal Cassady.” c. 1948. Sampas Collection of Jack Kerouac Material, 1900-2005.

Jack Kerouac met Neal Cassady during his time as a student at Columbia University. Although Cassady did not attend the school, the two quickly became close friends, a bond fueled by a shared passion for freedom and exploration of the unknown. Although they criss-crossed in and out of each other’s lives for the next several decades, they kept in touch through letters, one of which is displayed here.

Written in 1948, it is an intimate account of Kerouac’s dreams for his future and his excitement to realize them with Cassady as his partner in crime. The topic of the letter bounces around from page to page, switching rapidly from a half-baked plan to buy a ranch to expressions of admiration and love. “There is nothing clearer in my mind than my desire to see you again,” Kerouac writes. The two were never publicly anything more than friends, but the language of this letter is a testament to the kind of outsider relationships that the Beat Movement embraced, and the extent to which Neal truly was Jack’s greatest muse.