A collection of rarely-seen, unpublished photos of a young Marilyn Monroe has been unearthed by Life magazine. Monroe, 24 at the time the pics were taken, was only on the brink of stardom when photographer Ed Clark captured her beauty for the cameras.

The 1950 shoot contains photos of a fresh-faced young starlet who, at the time, was innocent of Presidential affairs and the staggering lows of multiple divorces. Monroe, who died tragically at age 36, would have been 83 years old today.

The pictures were discovered when Dawnie Walton, deputy editor at Life.com, was combing through the company archives. No one at the magazine was even aware the collection existed. It is believed the photos were taken in 1950 for a cover shoot which was never used. Monroe did not appear on the cover of the mag until 1952. Before Walton dug them up, the pics were “somewhere in a warehouse in New Jersey.”

At the time, Monroe was better known for her modeling work than her movie roles, though she had garnered some attention from her small role in The Asphalt Jungle. Clark said, at the time, he sent the rolls of film from the shoot to the Life officers in New York. Their response? “Who the hell is Marilyn Monroe?”

These previously-unknown photos are part of a larger collection of archives from Life that dates back to the 1850s, though the magazine didn’t begin publishing until 1936. The photographs are being transferred to the digital archive. That has resulted in, as is the case here, some great discoveries.

You can view some of the early Monroe photos here.