Teilhard de Chardin to Mme. Houdin., 09/11/1952-09/11/1952

This collection consists of 18 letters written by Rev. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to a French acquaintance, Mme. R.J. Houdin. In January 1986, Mme. Houdin gave the letters to Rev. Pierre Leroy, S.J., friend and fellow Jesuit of Teilhard de Chardin. She died not many years after, on September 25, 1989. The correspondence is extremely personal in nature, containing advice from Teilhard to Mme. Houdin relating to her friend Andre and to her children Gerard and Corinne, as well as to her grandchild Thierry. Written between 1951 and 1955, the correspondence also recounts Teilhard's life in New York, with some references to his various trips from there to South Africa and to California and Maine. The letters in this collection are unpublished. They are remarkable for the insight they provide into the character of Teilhard de Chardin in private life as a friend and confidant. The correspondence also includes one letter from Fr. Leroy to Mme. Houdin. This collection is part of a group of collections at Georgetown University relating to the work and friends of Teilhard de Chardin (see the Special Collections catalog, 1989, pp.72-73).