Huntington Verso

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

Conferences

The Provocative 15th Century

Tue., Oct. 13, 2015 | Andrea Denny-Brown
Until recently, the literature of 15th-century England had a poor reputation, being characterized as lacking talent and literary imagination. Coming after Chaucer's death in 1400 and before the well-known works of the Elizabethan period
Botanical

All in the Orchid Family

Fri., Oct. 9, 2015 | Lisa Blackburn
What comes to mind when you think of the word "orchid"? Do you picture the wrist corsage that you wore to your high school prom? Are you seeing the potted blooms in the floral section of the grocery store?
Botanical

If Not Lawn, Then What?

Tue., Oct. 6, 2015 | Scott Kleinrock
California's punishing drought has produced one positive effect: local gardens have gained some freedom from the expectation of the classic green lawn. More and more gardeners are removing lawn in favor of landscapes that look good while using less water.
Library

LOOK>> A Historiscope

Fri., Oct. 2, 2015 | Olivia Hummer and Kate Lain
With LOOK>>, we venture into our wide-ranging collections and bring out a single object to explore in a short video. This time around, we look at Milton Bradley & Company's Historiscope, ca. 1870.
Library

Stone Carver’s Diary from the Spa City of Bath

Tue., Sept. 29, 2015 | Amanda Herbert
We asked Amanda Herbert—the inaugural Molina Fellow in the History of Medicine and the Allied Sciences at The Huntington and assistant professor of history at Christopher Newport University—to share with us some of her current research in the Library's collection.
Library

Coliseum Politics

Fri., Sept. 25, 2015 | Frank Guridy
In recent months, the National Football League's seemingly imminent return to Los Angeles has been big news. This year, the press has widely reported that three NFL franchises—the Chargers, Raiders, and Rams—want to move their teams to the city.
Library

Jack London, Public Intellectual

Tue., Sept. 22, 2015 | Matt Stevens
Author Jack London found a kindred spirit in famed magician Harry Houdini, whose escape artistry London and his wife, Charmian, witnessed firsthand at the Oakland Orpheum on a November afternoon in 1915.
Conferences

Turbulent End to Civil War

Tue., Sept. 15, 2015 | Diana W. Thompson
By the spring of 1865, when surrenders at Appomattox, Durham Station, and elsewhere had finally delivered an end to four years of bloody battle, the American Civil War had killed a staggering 750,000 soldiers and 50,000 civilians—about two and a half percent of the U.S. population—and wounded hundreds of thousands...
Botanical

A Prairie Boy’s Passion for Bonsai

Fri., Sept. 11, 2015 | Lisa Blackburn
The irony doesn't escape Ted Matson. Raised on the prairie of North Dakota, without a tree in sight, the one-time farm boy followed a path in life that led to a full-time career in bonsai. That path also led him to The Huntington, where Matson joined the staff in February...
History of Science

Women Computing the Stars

Tue., Sept. 8, 2015 | Catherine Wehrey
A piece of women's history lies deep in the underground stacks of the Huntington Library, among the papers of American astronomer Frederick Hanley Seares (1873–1964). Seares was the head of the computing division at the Pasadena office of the Mount Wilson Observatory
History of The Huntington

Stories Aboard the Aquitania

Fri., Sept. 4, 2015 | Mario Einaudi and Diana W. Thompson
After they married in 1913, Henry and Arabella Huntington would spend several months each year in Europe, staying at the Château de Beauregard, a lavish castle located north of Paris, near Versailles. Reaching the Continent in those days meant traveling by ocean liner
Library

LOOK>> A Myriorama

Tue., Sept. 1, 2015 | Olivia Hummer and Kate Lain
With LOOK>>, we venture into our wide-ranging collections and bring out a single object to explore in a short video. Up first is Samuel Leigh and John Heaviside Clark's Myriorama from 1824.