Aldous Huxley’s original 1950 commencement address to the students of Besant Hill School of Happy Valley was mentioned in the first line of a New York Times article (17 November 2018) about the Ojai Valley Museum’s latest exhibit, ‘Trial By Fire: Ojai Ablaze 1917– 2017’. Huxley’s typewritten speech with his handwritten notes in the margin; Dr Annie Besant’s purse, coin purse and photograph; first-edition works of Krishnamurti and Louis Zalk; and relics brought back from India by Rosalind Rajagopal all survived the Thomas Fire that destroyed the rest of the then 72-year historical school archives.
Mark Lewis, president of the Ojai Valley Museum Board of Trustees, visited Besant Hill School in search of items that had made it through the blaze. In addition to Huxley’s speech and Annie Besant’s purses, a half-burned bench created for Beatrice Wood by the students and faculty of Besant Hill School of Happy Valley School was also featured in the exhibit.
