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Julian Huxley and Anita Loos correspondence

 Collection
Identifier: MS 082
Finding aid note: Stored onsite at the Woodson Research Center.

Scope and Contents note

Group of ten letters, dated 1960-1966, written by Julian Huxley to Anita Loos, all with excellent content and many quite lengthy. He writes about himself, his brother Aldous Huxley, and about Anita Loos' plays and work.

There is also a long letter written by Juliette Huxley to Anita Loos, and another letter by Julian to a Mrs. A. Sullivan, about Pasternak.

Dates

  • 1960 - 1966

Creator

Access restrictions

This material is open for research.

Stored onsite at the Woodson Research Center.

Use restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Julian Huxley - Anita Loos Correspondence must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.

Biographical note

Julian Sorell Huxley (June 22, 1887 - February 14, 1975) was a lecturer in Zoology at Oxford (1910-1912), Research Associate and later Assistant Professor of Biology at Rice Institute (1913-1916), and fought in World War I before returning to Oxford in 1919, where he conducted the famous axolotl experiments and participated in the university's expedition to Spitsbergen. He became Professor of Zoology at King's College, University of London in 1925, but resigned his position in 1927 to collaborate on what would become The Science of Life with H.G. Wells. He was Fullerian Professor of Physiology in the Royal Institution (1927-1929) while working with Wells, however after 1929 he held no academic position. For ten years he was a private person working to advance his ideas about the biological sciences not as a researcher nor as a teacher, but as a writer on scientific developments and their relationship to contemporary social issues.

From 1935-1942 he served as Secretary of the Zoological Society of London, allowing him to encourage solid research on animal behavior while introducing innovative methods for implementing his vision of the zoo as an educational institution. He continued his work as a writer and lecturer and was known throughout war-time Britain for his participation as a panel member of the BBC Brains Trust program. After World War II he helped form Unesco, serving as the organization’s first Director-General (1946-1948). Here he set out a program cosmopolitan in vision, one concerned with mankind in relationship with nature and with its past, one in which art and science were equally valued. He also began to articulate fully the concerns which would occupy the later years of his life: the relation of overpopulation to poverty and ignorance, the necessity for the conservation of wilderness and wildlife, and the importance of the renunciation of parochial views on religion and politics. The remainder of his life was spent traveling, lecturing and writing in support of the causes to which he was devoted. Throughout his long career, he contributed significantly to the fields of ethology, ecology and cancer research, and acted as a powerful proponent of neo-Darwinism.

Anita Loos (April 26 1888 - August 18, 1981) was an American screenwriter, playwright, and author. She is best known for her novel "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

Extent

0.1 Linear Feet ( (1 folder))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Correspondence between biologist Julian Huxley to Anita Loos, American screenwriter, playwright, and author. Many of these are great in length and most with remarkable content, evidencing the intimacy of Huxley and Loos.

Acquisition note

These items were purchased September 22, 2008.

Related Materials

MS. 50 Julian Sorell Huxley papers, 1899-1980

MS. 55 Letters to Kenneth Clark from Julian Huxley, 1935-1975

MS. 56 Solly Zuckerman Correspondence with Julian Huxley, 1931-1967

MS. 57 Julian Huxley Letter to G. W. N. Eggers, June 20, 1916

MS. 58 Julian Huxley Letter to Dr. Dyke, December 8, 1914

MS. 472 Julian Huxley Letter to Clinton George Evelyn Dawkins

Subjects

Record Groups

Related Names

Creator

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Julian Huxley and Anita Loos correspondence, 1960-1966
Status
Completed
Author
Alan Bath
Date
2014
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas Repository

https://library.rice.edu/woodson
Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA

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Harmful Content Statement
© 2023 Woodson Research Center
Fondren Library, Rice University
Physical Address: 6100 Main, Houston, Texas 77005-1827
Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892