Verso

On April 13, 1982, Lily Lee Chen was elected to the city council of Monterey Park, a city in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County that had become one of the first “suburban Chinatowns” in the United States. In 1984, Chen made history by becoming the first female Chinese American mayor in the nation. 

For The Huntington’s 2022 Founders’ Day celebration, a conversation was held on March 2 between acclaimed writer Charles Yu and Huntington Trustee Simon K.C. Li. They discussed Yu’s experiences writing in multiple genres, the role of fiction in constructing identity, and current U.S. dialogues about identity and race.

The life of Sonya Levien (1888–1960) reads like a rags-to-riches fairy tale. But it is also a story of fortitude, feminism, and the ability to balance personal, family, and financial ambitions.

In 1968, the third Monday of February was designated Presidents Day—a U.S. national holiday celebrating all presidents, past and present. The choice of the date was tied to Feb. 22, George Washington’s birthday, which had already been set as a holiday for federal workers in 1885.

The story of pollination seems pretty basic: Plants provide incentives—most often sustenance in the form of nectar and pollen—to entice various animals to transport pollen from flower to flower.

Alyssa Collins, assistant professor of English language and literature and African American studies at the University of South Carolina, is The Huntington's first Octavia E. Butler Fellow for the study of the renowned science fiction writer.

The Huntington's reconstruction of a 17th-century Japanese magistrate's house, shipped to the U.S. in pieces in 2020 from Marugame, Japan, has made remarkable progress since a formal Shinto roof-raising ceremony marked the historic building's early stage of reassembly in May 2021.

The year 2021 proved to be filled with both challenges and hope. As we look back at Verso stories from the past year, we remind ourselves of where we have been and contemplate where we are headed.