Guide to the Juliette Huxley papers, 1895-1994 MS 474

Biographical / Historical

Lady Marie Juliette Baillot was born in Auvernier, Switzerland, in a village near Lake Neuchâtel, on December 6, 1896, and moved to England at the age of nineteen to work as a French teacher for Ottoline Morrell. At Garsington, Morrell’s home, she met numerous guests including Aldous Leonard Huxley (ALH) and Julian Huxley. Julian and Juliette began courting in 1916, and corresponded throughout 1917 and 1918 while Julian served in the Army Service Corps and Army Intelligence during World War I. The two were married in 1919. Their first son, Anthony, was born in 1920, and their second, Francis, in 1923. Juliette followed Julian in his tenures at King’s College and the Royal Institute in London during the 1920s and until 1931, when Julian resigned. During Julian’s term as Secretary of the Zoological Society of London from 1935 until 1942, Juliette loved living in their home at the London Zoo. She enjoyed walking among the animals and hearing them at night. In 1946 the couple moved to Paris while Julian Huxley served as Director-General of UNESCO.

Juliette Huxley traveled extensively with her husband throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. She later published "Wild Lives of Africa" (1963), which was based on her experiences traveling with Julian during 1960 and 1961. The two eventually returned to London, where Julian died in 1975. Juliette Huxley continued living in London, surrounded by her own sculptures and the artwork of their numerous friends from over the years. She continued writing as well, publishing her autobiography "Leaves of the Tulip Tree" in 1986. She also continued to take notice of advancements in the fields in which her husband was interested, including biology, conservation, humanism, and social evolution. Juliette Huxley’s brother-in-law (and Nobel Prize winner), Aldous Huxley and her two sons, among other life-long acquaintances, frequently visited her. Her son Anthony died in 1992, which affected her own health. Juliette Huxley died on September 28, 1994.

Scope and Contents

Correspondence (a total of 12,553 pieces) forms the majority of this collection. The correspondence ranges from 1897, with Julian and his grandmother Henrietta exchanging letters, to 1994, shortly before the death of Juliette Huxley. The correspondence not only includes letters from Huxley family members and many twentieth-century intellectual, social, and cultural leaders, but it also provides extensive information about Lady Juliette Huxley and her myriad activities. Also included in the collection is correspondence to and from Aldous Huxley, the majority being from Aldous to his brother Julian, although there are a few from Aldous to Juliette and to his father and other brother Trevenen. Of particular interest are some very early juvenile writings of JSH, written in 1895, 1897, and 1904.

Correspondents include members of the Huxley family, and scientists, artists, authors, and social figures such as Joy Adamson, David Attenborough, Sybille Bedford, Kenneth Clark, Jelly D’Aranyi, Cyrus Eaton, Dorothy Elmhirst, Violet Hammersley, Alister Hardy, Jacques Havel, Samuel S. Koteliansky, Corliss Lamont, Konrad Lorenz, Rene Maheu, Yehudi Menuhin, Naomi Mitchison, Henry Moore, Ottoline Morrell, Herman J. Muller, Bertrand and Ethel Russell, May Sarton, George Gaylord Simpson, Stephen Spender, Freya Stark, Igor Stravinsky, Niko Tinbergen, Stark Young, H. G. Wells and his son G. G. Wells, and Solly Zuckerman.

In addition to extensive correspondence, the collection includes Anthony and Francis Huxley school records, material related to Julian Huxley’s involvement in the 1948 Breslau World Congress of Intellectuals, and manuscripts and typescripts of works by Julian and Juliette Huxley. Other formats include address books, calendars, condolences, diary fragments, journals, memorials, notebooks, passports, photographs, printed ephemera, travel materials and travel sketches.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

This material is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored onsite at the Woodson Research Center.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish from the Juliette Huxley papers, MS 474, must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.

Related Materials

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Juliette Huxley papers, 1895-1994, MS 474, Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University.

Acquisition Information

This collection was acquired at auction from Maggs Brothers of London in 1997.

Accruals

No future additions are expected for this material.

Detailed Description of the Collection