Henry Miller - Legacy

Legacy

Miller is considered a "literary innovator" in whose works "actual and imagined experiences became indistinguishable from each other." His books did much to free the discussion of sexual subjects in American writing from both legal and social restrictions.

Miller's papers can be found in the following library special collections:

• Southern Illinois University Carbondale, which has correspondence and other archival collections.
• Syracuse University, which holds a portion of the correspondence between the Grove Press and Henry Miller.
• Charles E. Young Research Library of the University of California, Los Angeles Library.
• Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, which has materials about Miller from his first wife and their daughter.
• University of Victoria, which holds a significant collection of Miller's manuscripts and correspondence, including the corrected typescripts for Max and Quiet Days in Clichy, as well as Miller's lengthy correspondence with Alfred Perlès.
• University of Virginia.
• Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Library.

It is estimated that Miller painted 2000 watercolors during his life, and that 50 or more major collections of Miller’s paintings exist. The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin holds a selection of Miller's watercolors, as did the Henry Miller Museum of Art in Ōmachi City in Nagano, Japan, before closing in 2001. Miller's daughter Valentine placed some of her father's art for sale in 2005.

Miller's friend Emil White founded the nonprofit Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur in 1981. This houses a collection of his works and celebrates his literary, artistic and cultural legacy by providing a public gallery as well as performance and workshop spaces for artists, musicians, students, and writers.