Latest News! 7.5.08 at 5.30 PM
A very serious wildfire is raging in Big Sur as I write this.
Starting Saturday, June 21, a little before 1 PM, the fire is named the Basin Complex Fire.
It has burned close to 69 thousand acres and is still growing.
It is currently threatening the Big Sur valley, descending from the ridges above.
A mandatory evacuation has been called for all areas both sides of the highway between
Lime Kiln and Palo Colorado Canyon.
Since there are no more residents allowed to help monitor the potential for flare-ups we now fervently hope, despite resources being spread ever thin, that the firefighters will be able to keep the Library safe by being vigilant for the duration.
Latest news sound good.
You can follow the progress of the fire by going to this site:
http://www.surfire2008.org/
The site collates all other good sites.
Check out their blog: http://surfire2008.wordpress.com/
The Henry Miller Library was evacuated during Sunday 22. All original artwork, primary source material, rare books etc. was removed to a safe location. Yesterday, July 2, we had to evacuate all of it again because the location we had chosen is now located in the new established evacuation zone - it is now safe (!?) in Carmel. (next time we'll take it to Seattle! (-: )
The fire descended the Graves Canyon (behind the Library) and came very close to the Library. A huge effort was mounted by the Firefighters, supported by two helicopters running in tandem up and down to the ocean with 4 - 600 gallon loads of water. Thanks to this effort the fire was stopped, almost literally, on the doorstep! Unfortunately there is still reason to be concerned; the wind, temperateure and relative humidity changes and with it so does the firebehaviour.
Naturally we had to cancel the benefit with Rob Schneider and the Alisa Fineman concert as well as the community gathering called "Where is Big Sur?" (Ironically that question got an answer this week, in the geographical sense, by most communication networks in the world!). The West Coast Ppoetry Slam Championship scheduled for July 12 and 13 is now also canceled.
We do not know yet when we will be able to open up to the public. Indeed the fire is still raging. This may take some time...
The Library staff has evacuated Big Sur and we're all safe.
Thank you,
Magnus Toren
Executive Dir. HML
If you would like to make a special tax deductible donation to the HML at this time - Thank you!
On a personal note my own home on Partington Ridge is currently safe as is Henry Miller's old home. These homes were saved thanks to heroic efforts on the part of our Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade along with State and Federal firefighters. Continued monitoring is needed however.
(Not everyone on Partington Ridge was as fortunate. Hopefully we can soon rally the neighborhood to help each other back from this disaster).
July 2 we lost three more homes in Big Sur in the area above Ventana Inn and Spa.
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Most of our programs, music, poetry, art workshops, exhibits etc. cost money. We need to have benefit events, donations, booksales etc. to make ends meet. We now have three paid staff year around, the overhead is relatively low, but, we now need some serious work done.
1. We need to get the archives room built. We own one of the most complete (if not The most complete) collection of Miller's publications in the English Language, we own the Emil Schnellock Archives w/ letters and manuscripts form the 20-ies and 30-ies and much more. We can't house the material here until we have one of our rooms insulated, re-roofed, and climate controlled.
Good news: We recently finished our new roofs as well as, almost, finished the archives room. This summer, when we will have three interns working on the archives, we'll get a lot more done.
2. We still need improvements done to the building and garden in general. A new/repaired deck in front, repairs to gates, stage and fences etc.
Please help us reach our goals - donations are tax deductible.
What is the Henry Miller Library?
Alternatives for you to help
Foundations & Corporate Sponsors
More about archives and money...
We bought the Emil Schnelloch Archives!
Testimonials.
2. Send us a generous donation in the mail. (Check, cash or credit card).
NB you still can opt to press the convenient "Make a Donation Button" above).
3. Go through your bookshelves and pack the books you don't need in a box and send it to us: Henry Miller Library, Highway One, Big Sur, CA 93920. The value of the books will be a tax deductible donation. We especially like books by and about Miller but we are interested in good books of any kind. (One way for us to pay for the work we do is to sell books to guest of the Library). Please do not send us software manuals from last year however...
4. Join us for a party sometime.
(This way you will 'get something' for your money, not just your name on a mailing list that will generate more pesky requests for money in the future).
5. Do all of the above.
The best alternative for all involved is, as we are sure you have already guessed, alternative number five (5). However, we would much appreciate whatever you can do.
All books - we love to get your old books - Miller, literature, children's books - really anything except old computer and software manuals! Ship by using media mail - we'll send you an acknowledgement in the mail and you get to deduct from your taxes. Mail to: HMML, Highway One, Big Sur, CA 93920.
Thank you!
Foundations & Corporate Sponsors
National Endowment for The Arts
Funding for Miller Audio Project
Big Sur Land Trust
General funding
Lannan Foundation
General support
Apple Computer Inc.
General support
LEF Foundation
Funding for Miller Audio Project
Threshold Foundation
General support
Big Sur Marathon
General support
Arts Council for Monterey County
General support
Post Ranch Inn
General support
Big Sur River Inn
General support
Big Sur Internet
General support
More about archives and money...
Since summer of 2005 we have had student interns from Smith College (Mass.), Berkeley and SF State Univ. working here to help catalog, preserve and digitize our collections. We been able to get a lot of important work done. We need help to continue to be able to do this right (It's never "done" but it will soon be apparent here, on the website, and when you visit, that work has been done.
The Henry Miller Library owns a very significant collection of letters, photographs, manuscripts, artwork and ephemera relating to both Henry Miller and to the Big Sur history. Today the Archives are organized in:
* Emil Schnellock Collection - original letters, manucripts, photos...
* Emil White Collection - letters, many about Big Sur in the 40-50 -ies
* June Lancaster Collection - correspondence between June and Henry M.
* Big Sur Collection - books, pamphlets, letters, photos, magazines etc.
* Henry Miller Collection - our general collection of Miller material.
Thanks to your support we have recently been able to put a new roof on both our buildings, build an archives room, remodel one of our bathrooms and get a bunch of other small improvements done around the place.
We need more funds for archival material: archival file cabinets, storage boxes, photography storage, display material, pamphlet enclosures, envelopes, photo albums etc. Much of the archival material has to be acid-free, pH neutral, and sulfur-free, which makes it expensive. Apple Computer made a significant donation of hardware in 2006 and we thank them.
The work will safeguard an important and valuable part of history, it will make what we have here available to anyone interested, and, it will make us here at the Library much more able to do interesting exhibits (we will know what we have and, more importantly, we will know where it is!).
Please consider making a generous donation towards this project. Every bit helps. Breaking the rules in fundraising, we will not suggest an amount. The ability to donate varies a lot from person to person and we do not want to limit anyone in any way - up or down. Please don't hesitate to give a substantial amount if you can - it will go towards a good cause. Similarly don't hesitate to give a small amount; knowing that you support the HMML is very important. The more individual support we receive the better our chances are when we apply to Foundations for grants. The question is always: "Do you have community support?"
Please contact Magnus Toren at the Henry Miller Library if you have any questions or suggestions before spending your taxdeductible money: magnus@henrymiller.org or 831-667-2574.
If you have books to donate - we'd love it.
We bought the Emil Schnelloch Archives!
The Henry Miller Library has purchased a major literary archive, the Henry Miller/Emil Schnellock Archives. The significance of this collection is perhaps best illustrated by quoting Roger Jackson, author of Henry Miller - A Bibliography of Primary Sources. After an appraisal of the uniqueness, age, and originality of the material Mr. Jackson states:
"This is the most important collection, with the exception of the collection at UCLA, of Henry Miller material anywhere in the world."
A note on the correspondence between Miller and Schnellock.
The early letters from Henry Miller to his boyhood friend Emil Schnellock were written between 1922 and 1934, most of them during Miller's first few years in Paris. Letters were an ideal medium for his gifts: bawdiness, exuberance, humors, mood changes, quick sketches, random ideas and arguments are all happily accommodated. An irrepressible need to write made him scribble on tablecloths and menus, filling his letters with himself and his Paris.The Miller/Schnellock Archive contains 187 letters from Miller to Schnellock spanning 40 years of friendship.This is a momentous time in the history of the Henry Miller Library.
For us, here in Big Sur, to be caring for and making available this marvelous collection of original material is a dream come true. The Archives contains an extraordinary richness of manuscripts; typescripts of literary sketches; Miller's first known letter of appeal; letters written, from the twenties through the forties, to his "literary trustee," Emil Schnellock; watercolors; postcards and several items previously unknown to Miller's biographers and bibliographers. Perhaps the single most meaningful document is the over one-hundred pages from the first draft of Tropic of Cancer that chronologically precedes what has heretofore been known as the "first" draft." This collection contains commentary, in Miller's own words, on every stage of his early struggle in becoming a writer. It is truly an exceptional treasure brought "home."We worked hard to raise funds for the acquisition of the Emil Schnellock Archives. The support from our community members, both locally and worldwide, made it possible for us to "save" the Archives. I say "save" because the Archive would very likely have been broken up and sold at auction houses around the world had it not been for our buying it. The task of cataloging and protecting the material in preparation for the eventual display and storage at the Library has begun.
What is the Henry Miller Library?
Is it a Library where you can check out books? Is it a museum? Is it a place exclusively dedicated to housing a bunch of dusty relics about Henry Miller? What is happening in this place? The answers to these questions come easily when guests of the Library from around the world arrive to pay a visit. Most of them are drawn by the name "Henry Miller," but once here, they discover local artwork, sculpture, poetry, literature and, at times, music, both in our limited indoor space and in the natural redwood amphitheater that is the Library's grounds. On occasion we'll have poetry readings, lectures, educational fairs, concerts, workshops and other events. But the Library is not, at heart, a place where things are "happening." I believe its greatest asset is the sense it gives of entering an oasis, a symbol of the inspirational, perhaps spiritual, aspect of this magnificent coast. It is a place where thousands of people come to find solace in a world gone increasingly "busy" and commercial. A place where synchronicity is legend and where you can learn about what Miller has done and about the artistic culture of Big Sur.
Many people come to Big Sur specifically to visit the Henry Miller Library. Very often their reaction is one of awe and gratitude."Thank you for keeping a place like this alive!" they tell us. Aside from being an "oasis," the Library is also a very important cultural institution. We offer programs to tour groups, guests at local hotels and resorts (such as the Post Ranch Inn and Ventana Inn), Elderhostel groups, special interest groups (our annual Writers Workshops), etc.. Many writers, journalists and photographers come to the Library for information and inspiration. It is apparent, both here at the Library and here on the web, that Miller has a very large following overseas. The fact that Henry Miller is lesser known in this, his country of birth, than abroad emphasizes the Library's mission to champion Miller's literary, artistic and cultural contributions and to educate people about his life and work. I have no doubt that Miller is, regardless of what opinion one might have of his merit as a writer, a person whose motivations, creed, method and artistic output will, for a very long time, be of interest to a vast number of people. Miller is, and will remain, a cultural phenomenon. His life and art had, and continues to have, a profound influence on several generations of writers as indicated by the tributes directed to Miller from authors such as Edmund Wilson, T.S. Eliot, Lawrence Durrell, Aldous Huxley, Norman Mailer, Philip Roth, Erica Jong and William Carlos Williams. More significant, perhaps, is the impact Miller has had on the lives and perceptions of the millions of people who have read his work and admired his paintings in this country and throughout the world.
The importance of being able to offer guests from all over the world an exhibit, at all times of the year, can not be overemphasized. Many visitors come to Monterey County partly to enjoy its literary heritage, and many come to Big Sur specifically to visit where Henry Miller spent many productive years. The Library's Miller collection is the second most extensive in the world, next only to UCLA's. The Henry Miller Library is a valuable asset, an oasis that serves visitors to Monterey County and Big Sur in particular. It is a community center for local residents, providing them with services not available anywhere else in Big Sur. It has an educational mission, which goes beyond Henry Miller to the literature, history and ecology of the Big Sur area.
From the Library Guest Book on the front porch:
“I was looking for the Big Sur of my dreams, I did not find it until I found this place. Thank You!”
"I haven’t understood anything since 1967." - Richard A. Canfer
"A wonderful and special place that I would never have found if not for an angry girl sitting at a bar in Austin, TX, drinking Guinness and smoking a cigarette over a library book." – Barry R.S.
"Once I move to Santa Cruz, I’m sure that I’ll be here more than at school." – Tamara
"What a time
What a beach
What a dog"
- Denis
"Fondle relentlessly and without abandon." - Clement
"Miller’s a killer." – T.S.W.
"Staring at the sky of time,
My life seems so small
While the hills abound so tall
Where have I been,
Where will I go,
I really don’t care
As long as my time goes slow!"
-Shannon Graham 11/10/07
"My New Year’s resolution is to buy a Miller novel in French ad a French-English dictionary, and translate it so’s I can read it." – Kate 1/10/07
"I could breathe here again. I thought it was only a memory."
"I feel like I’ve found myself again for a moment. Thanks for the music, sunshine and magic."
"A very special oasis! I never had any idea that Henry Miller had such a sense of humor."
"Thanks for a moment of peace - they’re too few and far between sometimes. Much appreciated!!"
"What a wonderful place! It inspires me deeply. Thanks for being there for us lost souls, lonely spirits of far away countries. Thanks for reminding me of who I am!"
"From the Hearst Castle to the Miller Library. This smaller giant compels me in ways the palace never can."
"To escape into the world of Henry Miller is beyond anything I thought I would have encountered at the Big Sur area. Thank you for keeping his soul alive for those who feel kissed by his magic."
