James Brayton Hall, president of the Garden Conservancy, examines what America's gardens say about our culture and how new approaches pioneered by the Conservancy are helping to protect and document these landscapes for the future. Several examples of West Coast gardens are highlighted, including...

Dympna Callaghan, William L. Safire Professor of Modern Letters at Syracuse University, considers Shakespeare's complaints about the limitations on what he could say and how he could say it.

Dennis Kruska, a noted authority on the Yosemite Valley, discusses the literature that enticed sightseers to experience the Yosemite's scenic wonders following the first tourist party to the valley in 1855.

Author Julie Leung and illustrator Chris Sasaki discuss the inspiring true story behind their children's book, Paper Son. Li Wei Yang, curator of Pacific Rim Collections at The Huntington, introduces the program and offers historical context. A book signing follows the talk.

Noted ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin and cartographer Brian Hettler of the Amazon Conservation Team discuss the work of Richard Schultes, the 20th-century ethnobotanist, and share their new interactive map, based on the explorer's journals, that tracks his Amazon travels and offers insights into his...

Edmund Russell, professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University and the Dibner Distinguished Fellow at The Huntington, discusses the motives, construction, and consequences of the completion of transcontinental telegraph in 1861.

Leading experts on 18th and 19th-century theatre explore the implications of statutory theatre censorship as Britain grappled with issues of modernity, race, gender, and religion during a period of imperial expansion and conflict.

Sachiko Kusukawa, professor of the history of science at the University of Cambridge, explores the many ways images served early modern science, from anatomical atlases and botanical illustrations to telescopic and microscopic observations.

John Crichton, proprietor of the Brick Row Book Shop in San Francisco, shares the story of pioneering entrepreneur Anton Roman (1828-1903), who came to California to make his fortune in the goldfields but became one of the most important booksellers in the West.

Researcher T.J. Stiles describes the last year of Custer's life through the eyes of teenager Bertie Swett. Swett came to know Custer and his wife Libbie at Fort Abraham Lincoln and in Manhattan while America approached a historic turning point. Swett bared witness to the notorious soldier's life...

James Walvin, professor emeritus at the University of York and the Los Angeles Times Distinguished Fellow at The Huntington, discusses the widespread global ramifications of African slavery that transformed the cultural habits of millions of people.

The Civil War witnessed a number of critical turning points. Major battles, the Emancipation Proclamation, the election of 1864, and the New York City draft riots represent the kinds of military, political, and social events that could signal a profound shift in the conflict's direction or...

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, the 300th Anniversary University Professor of History at Harvard University, shares stories from the remarkable diary of Caroline Crosby.

Sue Fawn Chung, professor emerita at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, presents facts and fictions about late 19th-century Chinese railroad workers, introducing newly published work on the subject: The Chinese and the Iron Road.

Larry Nittler, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution for Science, discusses his use of microscopic analyses to understand what tiny grains of dust in meteorites can tell us about the evolution of stars and the matter that became the sun and planets.

Rosalie McGurk, fellow in instrumentation at Carnegie Observatories, discusses the latest technological advances to build a new, custom-designed instrument for Carnegie Observatories' Magellan Telescopes that can peer into the Universe with extreme detail.

The Huntington is among the nation’s most important centers for the study of the American West with an unsurpassed collection of materials that spans the full range of American western settlement, including the overland pioneer experience, the Gold Rush, and the development of Southern...

Frank Guridy, associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin and the Ray A. Billington Visiting Professor at Occidental College, discusses the rituals of labor and leisure that have played out at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum over the past century. This is part of the...

Author and filmmaker Liz Goldwyn discusses her book "Sporting Guide", a series of interlinked stories that evoke a lost world on the margins of Los Angeles society in the 1890s.

With the 2006 acquisition of the Burndy Library (a collection of nearly 70,000 items), The Huntington became one the top institutions in the world for the study of the history of science and technology. In November 2008, The Huntington opened Dibner Hall of the History of Science, which features...

Jonathan Waldman, author of "Rust: The Longest War," provides an illuminating look at the unsung heroes—engineers—who are working to keep our modern world from wasting away due to rust, which has been called "the great destroyer." Rust consumes cars, fells bridges, sinks ships, sparks house...

Richard Wightman Fox, professor of history at the University of Southern California and author of Lincoln’s Body: A Cultural History, explores how, in the 150 years since Lincoln’s assassination, Americans have tied Lincoln's eloquent words and heroic deeds to his utterly unique physical body.

The Huntington’s literary manuscripts curator, Sara S. “Sue” Hodson, discusses the unordinary life of one of the most original voices in 20th-century American literature. Charles Bukowski’s raw, easy, and simple style challenged the literary and cultural establishment, forging a deep bond with...

Laura Skandera Trombley became the eighth president of The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in July 2015. However, her history with the institution began much earlier. A specialist on Mark Twain, Trombley began conducting research at The Huntington as a young scholar,...

Renowned contemporary artist Xu Bing discusses some of his recent works, including "Pheonix," installed in the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York, and "Traveling to the Wonderland" at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Maynard L. Parker (1901–1976) was a Los Angeles–based architectural and garden photographer who contributed images to many of the nation’s premiere home design publications. The Huntington’s collection of Parker material consists of approximately 58,000 negatives, transparencies, and...

The Huntington’s American art collection comprises some 9,4000 objects, including paintings, sculpture, decorative art, drawings, prints, and photographs. They range in date from the early 18th century to the late 20th century. About 500 items are on display in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries...

Kelly Conway, curator of American glass at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, discusses the understudied aspect of Louis Comfort Tiffany's virtuosity. This talk is part of the Wark Lecture Series.

The Huntington’s American art collection comprises some 9,4000 objects, including paintings, sculpture, decorative art, drawings, prints, and photographs. They range in date from the early 18th century to the late 20th century. About 500 items are on display in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries...

Pamela H. Smith, Seth Low Professor of History and Director of the Center for Science and Society at Columbia University, discusses her work with the Making and Knowing Project.

Steve Martino, award-winning landscape architect, is joined by Caren Yglesias, author of Desert Gardens of Steve Martino, for a discussion about landscaping for arid climates. Martino's pioneering designs combine dramatic man-made elements with native plants in gardens that honor the natural...

Literature and Theatre

During the 1920s and 1930s, African American arts and culture flowered throughout the United States, with much of the activity taking place in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. The co-curators of a fall 2009 exhibition at The Huntington discuss the vital role Los Angeles played in the...

Curator David Mihaly highlights several works from the recent exhibition “The Color Explosion: Nineteenth-Century American Lithography from the Jay T. Last Collection,” which was on view at The Huntington from Oct. 17, 2009, to Feb. 22, 2010.

Encompassing approximately 120 acres of the 207-acre grounds, the botanical gardens contain more than a dozen thematic areas, including the Desert Garden, Japanese Garden, and a Chinese garden called Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance. A Botanical Center features classrooms, research...

The Huntington Art Gallery is home to the European art collection, which focuses on works from the 15th to the early 20th century. It consists of about 400 paintings, 300 sculptures, 2,400 objects of decorative art, and some 20,000 prints and drawings. The in-depth Adult Tour highlights some of...

The Huntington Art Gallery is home to the European art collection, which focuses on works from the 15th to the early 20th century. It consists of about 400 paintings, 300 sculptures, 2,400 objects of decorative art, and some 20,000 prints and drawings. The in-depth Adult Tour highlights some of...

"Discover The Huntington" is a series of 4 short videos with accompanying printable study guides, teacher aids, and vocabulary worksheets designed to inspire, excite and orient students, teachers and the general public coming to The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens. The...

“Three Fragments of a Lost Tale: Sculpture and Story by John Frame” brings together a body of work by sculptor John Frame who carefully assembled some three dozen intricately carved sculptures, still photography, and stop-motion animation. This exhibition is on view at The Huntington from Mar....

Inspired by the centuries-old Chinese tradition of private gardens designed for scholarly pursuits, The Huntington’s Chinese garden—Liu Fang Yuan, or the Garden of Flowing Fragrance—combines the scenic beauty of nature with the expressiveness of literature to give deeper meaning to the landscape....

The Pacific region has become increasingly prominent in contemporary global economics, politics, and cultural affairs. Historical studies of these phenomena trace the evolution of Pacific connections and migrations in the early modern and modern eras. This conference, held at the Huntington...

The furniture of midcentury craftsman Sam Maloof (1916-2009) and the art made by 35 members of his circle of friends are explored in a groundbreaking exhibition at The Huntington. “The House That Sam Built: Sam Maloof and Art in the Pomona Valley, 1945-1985” includes commentary by seven artists...

The Huntington exhibits its permanent collections of European art from the 15th to the early 20th century and American art from the late 17th to the late 20th century. Special exhibitions are presented, as well, and include those developed from the permanent collection as well as loan shows that...

Encompassing approximately 120 acres of the 207-acre grounds, the botanical gardens contain more than a dozen thematic areas, including the Desert Garden, Japanese Garden, and a Chinese garden called Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance. A Botanical Center features classrooms, research...

William Deverell, the director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, hosts a brown bag luncheon series in which he interviews historians, journalists, and novelists about their work.

This interdisciplinary conference explores recent conversations in the study of sexuality in early modern England, with particular focus on historicist and queer methodologies, and seeks to move the field beyond current methodological debates by presenting scholarship on the intersection of the...

Fara Dabhoiwala, professor of history at Princeton University, explores why speech, before the 18th century, was continually monitored and policed in every sphere of life across the Western world.

Mark Valeri, the Reverend Priscilla Wood Neaves Distinguished Professor of Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, describes how new ideas of moral virtue and political reasonableness shaped Protestant approaches to religious choice in colonial America.

David Armitage, the Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History at Harvard University, puts contemporary conflicts from Afghanistan to Syria into historical perspective and asks why it matters whether we call them "civil wars" instead of insurgencies, rebellions, or even revolutions.