Rare Books

Set of wooden chairs from original 1920 Huntington Library Reading Room : [object]

Image not available

Description: Set of seven, or more, wooden chairs which were purchased for use in the Huntington Library Reading room when it opened in 1920. The chairs are early 20th-century manufacture, probably oak, with leather back cushions with studs and saddle seats. Myron Hunt's 1918 conceptual plans for the library called for at least 4 chairs in the Reading Room. Photographs in the Huntington archives show the chairs in use in the room when it was used for study and when the space was converted into exhibition space. By the 1930s, the chairs no longer appear to have been in use in the Library Main Hall. It is likely that they were in use in offices or other staff areas over the years.
Type: Rare Books(Opens in new tab)
Production date: [not after 1920]
Call number: 195391
Associated organization: Huntington E. Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
Find out more: View in the Library catalog

Newspaper and periodical room in the Pasadena Public Library, 285 East Walnut, Pasadena. 1927

Visual Materials

View of the newspaper and periodical room of the Pasadena Public Library, a high-ceilinged room with wood bookcases, multiple tables and chairs, and a large desk on the left. Most of the chairs are occupied by people reading newspapers. The library's address is 285 East Walnut.

photCL 402 (29094)

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Ahmanson reading room, August 26 1949

Manuscripts

View of the Ahmanson reading room, full of readers. The large elevated desk which the man is standing next to is where library staff distributed requested materials from the rare book stacks immediately behind them and the manuscripts stacks as well. MS note on verso reads "Huntington Library Rare Book Reading Room August 26, 1949." Typed attached note reads "Rare Book Reading Room. In 1953, over 700 readers from all parts of the country and abroad, used the facilities of the Huntington Library. Henry E. Huntington Library San Marino, California."

HIA 60.1.14

Circulating room of the Pasadena Public Library, 285 East Walnut, Pasadena. 1927

Visual Materials

View of the circulating room of the Pasadena Public Library, a high-ceilinged room with wood bookshelves and paneling, tapestries, multiple tables and chairs, and circulation and information desks on the left and in the center. Many of the chairs are occupied, and people stand in line waiting to be helped by the library staff. The library's address is 285 East Walnut.

photCL 402 (29093)

Circulating room of the Pasadena Public Library, 285 East Walnut, Pasadena. 1927

Visual Materials

View of the circulating room of the Pasadena Public Library, a high-ceilinged room with wood bookshelves and paneling, tapestries, multiple tables and chairs, and circulation and information desks on the left and in the center. The chairs and desks are unoccupied, and there are no books on the shelves. The library's address is 285 East Walnut.

photCL 402 (29517)

Peter Pan Room of the Pasadena Public Library, 285 East Walnut, Pasadena. 1927

Visual Materials

View of the Peter Pan Room of the Pasadena Public Library, a high-ceilinged room with wood bookshelves and paneling, a large fireplace, multiple tables and chairs, and a model ship in a glass case. All the chairs and benches are occupied by readers, mainly children, while people browse the bookshelves. The library's address is 285 East Walnut.

photCL 402 (29092)

Dining room in the Huntington residence

Visual Materials

A table with six chairs around it, with three more chairs arranged against the wall. Four women stand in pairs looking at the portraits on the walls. The paintings are, from left to right, George Romney's Catherine (Halhead) Burton (1789), Sir Thomas Lawrence's Emily Anderson: Little red riding hood (circa 1821), and Sir Martin Archer Shee's Frances (Woodis) Borlase, later Frances Grenfell, and Pascoe George Norman Grenfell (circa 1804). MS notes on verso read "HEH residence as art gallery: dining room" and "L.A. Chamber of Commerce."

photCL 107 fld23 (18)

Set of wooden chairs from original 1920 Huntington Library Reading Room : [object]

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Newspaper and periodical room in the Pasadena Public Library, 285 East Walnut, Pasadena. 1927

Ahmanson reading room, August 26 1949

Circulating room of the Pasadena Public Library, 285 East Walnut, Pasadena. 1927

Circulating room of the Pasadena Public Library, 285 East Walnut, Pasadena. 1927

Peter Pan Room of the Pasadena Public Library, 285 East Walnut, Pasadena. 1927

Dining room in the Huntington residence