Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections

Title: Henry Miller papers

Creator: Miller, Henry

Identifier/Call Number: LSC.0110

Physical Description: 76.0 linear feet (144 boxes, 2 cartons, 5 shoe boxes, and 15 oversize boxes)

Date (inclusive): 1896-1984

Date (bulk): 1930-1980

Abstract: Henry Miller (1891-1980) was a prominent American writer and artist. This collection of his personal papers contains correspondence, manuscripts, legal documents, printed materials, film and audio recordings, and original artwork.

Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Language of Material: Materials are in English.

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains both processed and unprocessed audiovisual materials. Audiovisual materials are not currently available for access, unless otherwise noted in a Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note at the series and file levels. All requests to access processed audiovisual materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Gift of Henry Miller, 1945-1979. Also includes gifts from Bern Porter, Emil Schnellock, Hilaire Hiler, Gerald Robitaille and Barbara Miller, 1945-1988; and miscellaneous manuscript purchases, 1989-1998.

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9942334193606533 

[Identification of item], Henry Miller papers (Collection 110). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

The collection was partially processed by manuscripts division staff in the 1960s, with particular attention given to the original correspondence series. The correspondence series, which had been described at the item-level in a local card catalog, was completely rehoused and fully inventoried in 2004 by various staff members in the CFPRT under the direction of Laurel McPhee. The remainder of the collection, including all post-1968 donations, purchases, backlogged material, and deposits was processed by Alysia Cain with assistance from Laurel McPhee in 2005. Books were separated from the manuscript material for individual cataloging and storage in the Special Collections stacks. The collection was fully rehoused and described, and series and subseries levels were imposed to enhance access to the collection and create a finding aid.

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.

We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Problematic Content and Description in UCLA's library collections and archives. 

Henry Valentine Miller was born December 26, 1891 in Manhattan to Heinrich Miller and Louise Nieting. A year later, the family moved to Brooklyn where Miller spent the majority of his childhood and adolescence. After graduating from high school in 1909, Miller attended the City College of New York for two months before leaving school. Throughout his twenties, Miller had a series of odd jobs, and in 1913 he left New York and traveled west, working briefly in California before he returned home to work in his father's tailor shop. In 1917 Miller married Beatrice Sylvan Wickens, and their first daughter, Barbara, was born two years later. At this time, Miller started working for Western Union Telegraph company where he made his first serious attempts at writing. Miller met June Edith Smith (June Mansfield) at a dance hall in 1923, and they were married in 1924 following a divorce from his first wife. At this time, Miller quit his job at Western Union in order to devote his time to writing, a decision that left him in poverty for much of this period. Miller and June traveled to Europe in 1928. Miller returned to Europe again in 1930 with the intention of living there permanently. He settled in Paris, where he would spend the majority of the next ten years, and immediately began writing Tropic of Cancer. This became his first published book in 1934. In Paris, Miller became involved in the literary and artistic scene, befriending writers and artists such as Alfred Perle's, Michael Frankel, Abraham Rattner, Hans Reichel, and Lawrence Durrell. Miller met Anaïs Nin in 1931, and both a romantic relationship and a lasting literary friendship developed. Miller was divorced from his second wife, June, in 1934. At the invitation of his friend Lawrence Durrell, Miller traveled to Greece in 1939, a trip that inspired his famous work, The Colossus of Maroussi. He was forced to return to the United States in 1940 as a result of the war in Europe. After his return, Miller lived in Los Angeles. During these years, Miller had several watercolor exhibitions in Los Angeles and London and prepared more of his writings for publication. In 1944, Miller married Janina Lepska, a graduate student who he had met on a trip to New York, and the Millers moved to Big Sur that same year. Daughter Valentine was born in 1945, and son Tony was born in 1948. Miller separated from Lepska in 1951. In 1953, Miller and Eve McClure toured Europe together; on their return, Miller and Eve were married. They divorced in 1960. In 1961 Tropic of Cancer was published for the first time in the United States, and censorship battles began. It wasn't until 1964 that the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the book was not pornographic. The stateside publication of Tropic of Cancer made Miller famous in the United States, and a steady stream of fans began to visit and write to him at his home in Big Sur. In an attempt to flee the constant attention, Miller moved to Pacific Palisades in 1962 where he lived for the remainder of his life. In 1966, Miller met Hiroko "Hoki" Tokuda, a Japanese nightclub singer. They were married that same year, but Hoki left Miller in 1977. Miller continued to write, but poor eyesight and health problems decreased the frequency. He did, however, continue to produce watercolors until his death. Miller died at the age of 88 on June 7, 1980.

The Henry Miller Papers consist of correspondence, manuscripts, printed materials, film, audio recordings, and artwork that document Henry Miller's life and career as a writer and painter. The collection contains a large body of correspondence, primarily from Miller's friends, fans, and members of his artistic and literary circles, including Brassaï, Blaise Cendrars, Lawrence Durrell, Alfred Perle's, Abraham Rattner, Anaïs Nin, Bezalel Schatz, and Jean Verame. Of particular interest are the original manuscripts for many of Miller's books, essays, articles, and reviews that span the whole of his career as a writer, including several early, unpublished manuscripts dating from the late 1920s. The collection also includes a large selection of original watercolors by Miller and artwork given to Miller by friends and prominent artists, including Man Ray, Abram Krol and Gyula Zilzer. Other significant materials include legal documents related to court proceedings involving the publication of Tropic of Cancer, ephemera documenting Miller's publications and art exhibitions, copies of films of or related to Miller, sound recordings of Miller reading from various works including Tropic of Capricorn, and photographs of Miller and his art.

Arranged in the following series:

1. Correspondence, 1899-1980 (95 boxes), subseries A-J as follows:
   • 1A. Main correspondence
   • 1B-1J. Deposited correspondence
2. Manuscripts, 1896-1980 (37 boxes, 2 oversized boxes), subseries A-C as follows:
   • 2A. Literary manuscripts by Miller
   • 2B. Prefaces and reviews by Miller
   • 2C. Manuscripts by others
3. Microfilm, 1933-1959 (5 shoeboxes)
4. Photographs, 1891-1978 (1 box, 1 oversized box)
5. Printed materials, 1937-1984 (14 boxes), subseries A-D as follows:
   • 5A. Ephemera
   • 5B. News clippings
   • 5C. Legal materials
   • 5D. Extracts from periodicals
6. Artwork, 1931-1980 (9 oversized boxes), subseries A-C as follows:
   • 6A. Original artwork by Miller
   • 6B. Artwork by others
   • 6C. Signed prints and posters
7. Audio and visual materials, 1944-1973 (1 box, 3 oversized boxes), subseries A-B as follows:
   • 7A. Sound recordings
   • 7B. Films.

Henry Miller 84: A Video Portrait, by John Hunt in Miscellaneous manuscripts (LSC 100).  Available at UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Books from Henry Miller's library that were originally donated with the papers have been individually cataloged in the UCLA Library online catalog. Records for these items may be found by searching on the keywords, "Henry Miller former owner."