Who’s Behind the Curtain?
Fri., Dec. 28, 2018 | Lynne Heffley
Kathleen Quinn's elegant drapes accent the renovation of a grand staircaseIn advance of The Huntington’s Centennial celebration, which gets under way in the fall of 2019, Catherine Hess, chief curator of European art, decided that it was time to reimagine the décor...
A Botanical "Feathered" Friend
Sun., April 1, 2018 | John Trager
Cactus's soft touch provides key to its survivalAs The Huntington’s curator of desert collections, I, along with my staff, care for 2,000 species of succulents, including a vast range of cacti, in the 10-acre Desert Garden...
Counting Extinction
Sun., April 1, 2018 | Daniel Lewis
The last observations of a small Hawaiian birdIn Belonging on an Island: Birds, Extinction, and Evolution in Hawai‘i (Yale University Press, 2018), Daniel Lewis takes readers on a 1,000-year journey as he explores the Hawaiian Islands’ beautiful birds and a variety of topics...
A Book Full of Seaweed
Sun., April 1, 2018 | Michele Currie Navakas
Algology preserves a passionate engagement with the underwater worldThe documentary Chasing Coral (2017) brings coral close. Using underwater time-lapse photography, the film chronicles the catastrophic effects of global warming on coral reefs.
Examining The Blue Boy
Sun., April 1, 2018 | Usha Lee McFarling
A paintings conservator and an ear surgeon talk shopThomas Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy (ca. 1770) may well be an icon of Western art and one of the most beloved attractions at The Huntington, but now that it is nearly 250 years old, this epic portrait is in need of some...
Scholar's Insight: A Riveting Hypothesis
Sun., Oct. 1, 2017 | Racha Kirakosian
The recess in a book's cover may have contained more than meets the eye By Racha KirakosianOne of the most pleasurable experiences one can have as a medievalist...
Welcome to the Ranch
Sun., Oct. 1, 2017 | Usha Lee McFarling
The Huntington's experimental demonstration garden educates and enchantsIf ever there were a secret garden, it's the Ranch Garden at The Huntington...
Lessons Learned: In the Woods With a Canoe
Sun., Oct. 1, 2017 | Terence Young
A historian of camping scrutinizes Frederick Jackson Turner's Encounter with WildernessBy Terence YoungCamping is one of the country's most popular pastimes...
Floriform
Sun., Oct. 1, 2017 | James Glisson
Don't expect a garden variety flower from a modernist painterA rose is a rose is a rose, but what a rose can mean in different contexts is staggeringly varied. Take the red rose. A token of romantic affection, it is also the flower of the City of Pasadena and its...
Archiving the Civil War’s Text Messages
Sat., April 1, 2017 | Daniel Lewis
A massive crowdsourcing project is digitizing thousands of coded Union telegramsTo gain insights into the U.S. Civil War, The Huntington launched an innovative crowdsourcing project last year to transcribe and decipher a collection of telegrams
The Perfect Wedding Gift
Sat., April 1, 2017 | Catherine Hess
Two 15th-century panels from an Italian wedding chest tell a tale of passionate loveNewly married couples in 15th- and 16th-century Italy—like newlyweds today—could expect to receive a pile of wedding gifts. One of the most common gifts was a cassone, or big box...
A Passion for Cycads
Sat., April 1, 2017 | Usha Lee McFarling
Survivors from the dinosaur age, cycads continue to captivate collectors and researchersCycads are squat, woody, and branchless. They have no flowers, just spiky leaves that shred clothes and tear skin. They grow slowly, poison livestock and sometimes people.