urn:taro:utexas.hrc.00448 Alexander B. Miller: A Preliminary Inventory of His Collection of Henry Miller in the Manuscript Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Finding aid created by Stephen Cooper Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, 2007 Finding aid encoded by Joan Sibley, 2008 Finding aid written in English. The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Miller, Alexander B. Alexander B. Miller Collection of Henry Miller 1936-2007 2 boxes (.84 linear feet) Mainly correspondence from Henry Miller to Renate Gerhardt, including handwritten and typed letters, postcards, and telegrams; the materials also include a small amount of correspondence to Conte Antonini, as well as some related autograph material and photographs. English Scope and Contents

This collection of Henry Miller materials was given to the Ransom Center by Alexander B. Miller, a private collector unrelated to Henry Miller, who purchased most of the materials in 1998. The bulk of the collection is made up of correspondence from Miller to Renate Gerhardt, a German publisher with whom he had a romantic relationship during the 1960s, as well as a few letters to Gerhardt from Gerald Robitaille, Miller's secretary. This correspondence has not been publicly available since its creation. Also present in the collection are twenty letters to and from Count Antonini and others, one carbon copy of a letter from Gerhardt to Henry Miller, one letter from Gerhardt to Alexander Miller, and a small amount of business and personal materials related to Henry Miller.

The papers are arranged in two series: I. Correspondence, 1936-2000; and II. Miller-Related and Other Materials, 1949-2007. Upon arrival, all of the correspondence was in rough chronological order organized by author, and a small amount of further organization was done to complete this arrangement.

The correspondence in Series I. includes handwritten and typed letters, postcards, telegrams, and a large number of envelopes that were separated from their corresponding letters before arrival at the Ransom Center. The correspondence to Gerhardt reveals a wide variety of subject matter, from romantic conversation to discussions about their children, financial matters, health difficulties, literary issues, contemporary writers and other notable persons, and travel plans.

The materials in Series II., Miller-Related and Other Materials, include a photograph of Miller with Brenda Venus, a book catalog of "Titles Available and Unavailable" for works available directly from Miller in Big Sur, two pamphlets and a press release put out by Miller, promotional materials related to Miller's watercolor paintings, a Henry Miller Literary Society newsletter from 1960, publishing promotional materials, an essay by Karl Orend titled "Miller-Gerhardt Collection, An Introduction," and a thesis titled "The Temple Of the Living God."

Acquisition:

Gift, 2007 (G 12558)

 Access:

Open for research

 Processed by:

Stephen Cooper, 2007

Seventeen books by or about the author were part of the gift and were transferred to the Ransom Center Library.

Container List Series I. Correspondence, 1936-2000 1 Gerhardt, Renate 1 1 To Alexander Miller, 2000 1 2 To Henry Miller, undated 1 Miller, Henry 1 3 To Count Antonini, 1936-1937, undated 1 To Renate Gerhardt 1 4 1960 1 5 1961 1 6 1962 1 7 1963 1 8 1964 1 9 1965-1970, undated 1 10 Postcards, 1960-1967 1 11 Telegrams, 1960-1962 2 1-3 Envelopes 2 4 To others, 1955-1979; envelopes 2 5 Robitaille, Gerald to Renate Gerhardt, 1968 Series II. Miller-Related and Other Materials, 1949-2007 2 6 Business and personal related materials, 1957-1979, undated 2 7 Publishing promotional materials, 1949-1995, undated 2 8 The Temple of the Living God thesis by Carter Burden, 1963 2 9 Miller-Gerhardt Collection, An Introduction by Karl Orend, 2007