News From the Director of Research—October 2025

Over the next few weeks, the new cohort of Long-Term Fellows will be settling in for a year of research, writing, and scholarly sociability. It’s a remarkably diverse cohort, with scholars working on topics as varied as Pacific Islander poetry, Mayan forests, a Filipina food scientist, Spanish maps stolen by English pirates, colonial Mexican money, and early modern English botanical studies.

We are excited to see how these projects unfold in conversation with our world-class collections and especially delighted to host so many scholars working on the new(ish) field of plant humanities. Craig Santos Perez (R. Stanton Avery Distinguished Fellow), Sandy Rodriguez (Hannah & Russell Kully Distinguished Fellow in American Art), Scott Doebler (Dibner Fellow), Kat Lecky (Mellon Fellow), Wendy Cheng (Simon and June Li Fellow), and Lindsay Wells (Kemble Fellow) are all exploring the relationship between plants and humans through the lens of art, history, literature, and art history. We can’t wait for them to get to know our Herbarium and Botanical collections, along with our terrific History of Science collections in the Library!

Three people stand in a courtyard with chairs and string lights. — Research fellows Liza Blake, Sandy Rodriguez, and Craig Santos Perez attend the 2025 welcome dinner.

I am beyond grateful to announce that we will be able to replace two of the three NEH long-term fellowships lost through the termination of The Huntington’s NEH grant, thanks to the generosity of donors Simon and June Li, and Heather and Paul Haaga. The Li and Haaga families have provided funds to support one fellow each for the next four years, with additional support from Simon and June to fund the rigorous peer review process that brings 20 senior scholars each winter to The Huntington to read and evaluate the 500 applications we receive. We are following closely the lawsuit filed in April by the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Historical Association, and the Modern Languages Association challenging the legality of the termination.

Check out the special edition on exhibitions in London by leading art historians published in the Huntington Library Quarterly this summer! The issue has already made a splash, garnering praise from the Yale Center for British Art, the Winterthur, and the Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art.

Susan Juster
W.M. Keck Foundation Director or Research

8 tiles with titles of upcoming Huntington Library Quarterly articles — Title images from the Huntington Library Quarterly.

A New Season of Events

Dive into the archives with us. Join us for this year’s exciting calendar of academic conferences and lectures, all open to the public. This year, we’re unifying our lectures under a series theme, “Active in the Archives.” Over a broad range of topics, all our speakers will consider the research process and how scholars turn archives into stories.

Lectures

Free with reservation.

Conference

Registration required. Fee waived for students.

A person looks at a large book with an illustration of an orchid plant.

Application Season Now Open

Application season has begun for 2026–27 research fellowships. Learn more about our full range of offerings, comprising over 100 individual awards covering short-term, long-term, variable-term, and travel/exchange options. Please help us circulate to researchers at all levels who would benefit from time in our collections, including graduate students, independent and unaffiliated scholars, and researching artists! Deadline for applications is Nov. 15.

Our call for conference proposals is also live. The Huntington’s Research Division hosts multiple one- or two-day academic conferences every year on topics that build upon the strengths of the research library, art collections, and botanical gardens. For scholars wishing to convene an event during the 2026–27 academic year, the deadline for proposals is Nov. 15.

A render of a Spanish-revival style residence.

Scholars Grove Construction Commences

The Huntington recently held a ceremonial groundbreaking for Scholars Grove, the residential housing complex being constructed on the north edge of campus, adjacent to the orange grove. Once constructions is completed in 2027, it will make 33 apartment units available to residential researchers, significantly increase accessibility to The Huntington’s world-class collections. The vibrant community center will also feature a commons building designed to host gatherings and intellectual exchange. The initiative was fully funded by Charles T. Munger, the late philanthropist and longtime Huntington supporter.

Explore Scholars Grove