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 Center Finding aid created by Stephen Cooper Harry Ransom Center, 2007 Finding aid encoded by Joan Sibley, 2008 Finding aid written in English. Collection Summary Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin Miller, Alexander B. Alexander B. Miller Collection of Henry Miller 1936-2007 Manuscript Collection MS-05078 2 boxes (.84 linear feet) and 1285 electronic files (1.9 GB) 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. There are also electronic versions of the materials. 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."

The materials in Series III. Electronic Materials includes electronic versions of the materials in Series I and II.

 Acquisition:

Gift, 2007 (G 12558)

 Access:

Open for research. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials. To request access to electronic files, please email Reference.

 Restrictions on Use:

Certain restrictions apply to the use of electronic files. Researchers must agree to the Materials Use Policy for Electronic Files before accessing them. Original computer disks and forensic disk images are restricted. Copying electronic files, including screenshots and printouts, is not permitted.

 Processed by:

Stephen Cooper, 2007

Born digital materials processed, arranged, and described by Chance Adams and Brenna Edwards, 2015-2022.

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 Series II. Miller-Related and Other Materials, 2007 0710012G_002 Big envelopes. 60 electronic files: JPG, 2007 0710012G_002 Envelopes and telegrams. 57 electronic files: JPG, 2007 0710012G_002 Ephemera. 73 electronic files: JPG, 2007 0710012G_002 Ganz Wild Auf Harry by Henry Miller. 6 electronic files: JPG, 2007 0710012G_001, 0710012G_002 Henry Miller-Renate Gerhardt Collection, An Introduction by Karl Orend. 2 electronic files: Microsoft Word, 2007 0710012G_004-0710012G_006 Letters. 663 electronic files: JPG, 2007 0710012G_002-0710012G_003 Postcards. 300 electronic files: JPG, 2007 0710012G_002 Publishing promotional materials. 25 electronic files: JPG, 2007 0710012G_002 Small envelopes. 99 electronic files: JPG, 2007