The UCLA Library has acquired the literary archive of the visionary novelist and essayist Aldous Huxley (1894-1963). The collection contains literary materials he created subsequent to a devastating 1961 fire that destroyed his Los Angeles home and much of his earlier archive; correspondence, photographs, and audio tapes; and typescripts and galley proofs retrieved from publishers after his death. Also included are the papers of his wife, Laura Huxley (1911-2007), an author and lay therapist.
The literary materials include manuscripts and working papers for twelve books, including his final novel, Island; thirty-five essays, articles, and speeches; and thirty-one lectures. Among hundreds of letters are love letters between the writer and his wife. There are recordings of many of his lectures and of him reading from his novel Time Must Have a Stop (1944) and English and French poetry. The archive also contains a travel diary, four personal notebooks, and personal effects, including his British passport, a magnifying glass, fountain pens, and a leather wallet.
The archive was acquired with funds provided by Bill Edwards, a 1961 graduate of UCLA and a member of the UCLA Library's board of visitors and the Powell Society. It joins the Aldous Huxley Papers already held by the Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections.