Huntington Verso

The blog of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Beyond The H

Mentoring in the Afterlife

Fri., June 10, 2016 | Ayana Jamieson
When it came to finding the confidence to publish her writing, science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) could count on herself for a pep talk. "I shall be a bestselling writer," she wrote in one of the notebooks contained in her papers.
Botanical

China Rose

Tue., June 7, 2016 | Diana W. Thompson
It's easy to imagine that heritage roses—with names such as 'Archduke Charles', 'William R. Smith', and 'Maman Cochet'—originated in England or France. But every repeat-blooming rose today traces its history back to the China rose, Rosa chinensis, says Tom Carruth
Audio

LISTEN>> Japanese Tea Ceremony

Fri., June 3, 2016 | Corinne DeWitt
In a suite of audio posts, visiting journalist Corinne DeWitt heads into our three collecting areas—Library, Art, and Botanical—and meets up with staff to explore facets of the vast collections that are the core of The Huntington. First up: Botanical.
Beyond The H

Maps that Scholars (and Goonies) Treasure

Tue., May 31, 2016 | Vanessa Wilkie, Ph.D.
In the early 1980s, Mary Robertson, then chief curator of manuscripts, had an unusual meeting with a film production designer. Robertson was used to talking with people about the wonders and mysteries within The Huntington's vast and renowned collections.
Library

Empowering the Earl of Leicester

Thu., May 26, 2016 | Norman Jones
The Huntington possesses an astonishing Elizabethan-era illuminated manuscript, dating from 1567, entitled Heroica Eulogia. Containing a series of vignettes of earls and kings, it is an exquisite volume that combines paintings, coats of arms, Latin poems
Beyond The H

Advancing the Humanities

Mon., May 23, 2016 | Kevin Durkin
The Huntington and the University of California, Riverside, have selected the first two fellows for the highly competitive Huntington-UC Program for the Advancement of the Humanities, a partnership designed to boost the humanities at public universities.
Conferences

Printed News and Royal Proclamations

Wed., May 18, 2016 | Chris Kyle and Jason Peacey
The highways and byways of early modern England carried travelers transporting news of the day. Royal messengers jostled with post-boys, merchants, booksellers, and balladeers. Judges rode their circuits
Exhibitions

Geographies of Wonder

Thu., May 12, 2016 | Linda Chiavaroli
When 19th-century trappers and explorers returned from the Yellowstone region of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, they told incredible tales of boiling mud, geysers, steaming rivers, and petrified trees.
Art

Remembering John Svenson

Mon., May 9, 2016 | Thea Page
You don't forget meeting a man like John Svenson. I got a brief opportunity in 2011 when he came to The Huntington for a photo shoot in the galleries housing the exhibition "The House that Sam Built: Sam Maloof and Art in the Pomona Valley, 1945–1985"
Library

Robbery and Rats in 17th-Century Jamaica

Thu., May 5, 2016 | Carla Pestana
Archival research involves thousands of tiny discoveries, while writing history requires putting those fragments together into a coherent whole. The process, often tedious, can occasionally be exhilarating.
Art

Mementos of Downton

Mon., May 2, 2016 | Diana W. Thompson
If you're one of the millions of people who watched the British period drama "Downton Abbey," you might be craving a juicy story about a lord or lady right about now. "Downton" led viewers on a rollercoaster ride as the titled Crawley family
Library

Thomas Pennant’s Literary Appeal

Thu., April 28, 2016 | Melissa Bailes
Asked to name the most famous European naturalists of the 18th century, most scholars would probably choose Sweden's Carl Linnaeus and France's Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon. One figure often overshadowed by these contemporaries