Videos and Recorded Programs

Award-winning horticulturist Chris Woods describes the most arresting features in public parks, botanic gardens, and private estates in locations ranging from New Delhi and Dubai to Chile and Australia from his book GardenLust. Throughout, he reveals the fascinating people, plants, and stories that make these gardens so lust-worthy.

Mary Sarah Bilder, Founders Professor at Boston College Law School, discusses the responses of George Washington and Benjamin Rush to Eliza Harriot O'Connor's remarkable university lectures in 1787 and their implications for female political status under the Constitution. O'Connor was the first American female lecturer and principal of a female academy. This program is a Nevins Lecture.

Naomi Tadmor, professor of history at the University of Lancaster and the Fletcher Jones Foundation Distinguished Fellow at The Huntington, discusses the sophisticated system of social welfare developed in 17th- and 18th-century England aimed to assist the poor and its impact on local government and the lives of families and communities.

Rebecca Corbett, Japanese studies librarian at USC, explores aspects of tea culture in Japan's Edo period (1603–1868) and its use in children's education. Corbett's current project focuses on the Buddhist nun and artist Tagami Kikusha (1753–1826) and the transmission of her work in modern Japan. This program is part of the East Asian Garden Lecture series.

Michael Vinson, author and proprietor of Michael Vinson Americana, shares the tale of John Holmes Jenkins III (1940–1989), a Texas antiquarian bookseller, publisher, historian, and gambler who, in 1971, helped the FBI recover a valuable set of original colored engravings of Audubon's The Birds of America.

L.A. artists Carolina Caycedo and Mario Ybarra Jr. were invited to create new works in response to The Huntington's library, art, and botanical collections, as part of the contemporary arts initiative /five, produced in partnership with the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College. Inspired by different forms of ritual, Caycedo reconceptualized iconic Huntington spaces through Afro-Latino and indigenous spiritual practices and dance, while Ybarra responded to the timeless physical and mechanical processes needed to create masterful drawings and prints.

Jonathan Waldman, author of "Rust: The Longest War," provides an illuminating look at the unsung heroes—engineers—who are working to keep our modern world from wasting away due to rust, which has been called "the great destroyer." Rust consumes cars, fells bridges, sinks ships, sparks house fires, and nearly brought down the Statue of Liberty. This program is a Trent R. Dames Lecture.

Contemporary artist Tang Qingnian 唐慶年 demonstrates his calligraphy, which enlivens past traditions with a modern aesthetic sensibility. The art of ink and brush calligraphy has long been prized in China as a form of creative expression and an embodiment of scholarly culture. Originally from Beijing, Tang was at the forefront of China's "New Wave" art movement in the 1980s before relocating to the United States.

Sara Karloff, daughter of the screen legend whose iconic performance as the Frankenstein Monster set the standard, shares his more human side.

Joel A. Klein, the Molina Curator for the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences at The Huntington, explores the work of Daniel Sennert (1572–1637), professor of medicine at Wittenberg University, who sought to reform 17th-century medicine through alchemy, atomism, and experimentation. Sennert's reform led to clashes with traditionalists as well as profiteering charlatans, and ultimately resulted in charges of heresy and blasphemy. This lecture is sponsored by the Dock Society for the History of Medicine.

Gregory Nobles, professor emeritus of history at Georgia Institute of Technology, explores the role of ordinary observers in scientific developments from Audubon's era in the 19th century to the present day. This program is a Ritchie Distinguished Fellow Lecture.

Hiroki Ohara, fifth-generation headmaster of the Ohara School of Ikebana, presents a lecture-demonstration of the Japanese art of ikebana flower arranging in celebration of the school's 50th anniversary in Los Angeles. Hiroki Ohara is a practicing contemporary artist, whose large-scale, site-specific works have blurred the boundaries of ikebana, land art, and performance art.

Award-winning landscape architect Steve Martino is joined by Caren Yglesias, author of Desert Gardens of Steve Martino, for a discussion about landscaping for arid climates. Martino's pioneering designs combine dramatic man-made elements with native plants in gardens that honor the natural ecology of the desert, inviting spaces of beauty and color while solving problems such as lack of privacy or shade.

This interdisciplinary conference focuses on the transatlantic dynamics of food and power in the long 18th century. Historians, historical geographers, and literary scholars will assess the significant role of food in shaping interpersonal and geopolitical relations during this period, focusing in particular on the perceived and real impact of scarcity and social unrest.

Paul Theroux, travel writer and novelist, explains how Jack London's experiences and observations in the Hawaiian Islands still resonate today, based on Theroux's own experiences and observation as a 30-year resident there.

Tom Ford, fashion designer and filmmaker, discusses the making of his 2009 film, A Single Man, based on Christopher Isherwood's semi-autobiographical novel, published in 1964. Isherwood's archive, including the manuscript of the novel, is part of The Huntington's literary collections.

Gary W. Gallagher, the John L. Nau III Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Virginia, explores how popular and academic understandings of the Civil War align with, or depart from, the reality of the conflict.

Glenn Webb, professor emeritus at Pepperdine University, discusses the globalization of the Japanese tea ceremony in the decades following World War II. Webb's lecture inaugurates the Dr. Genshitsu Sen Lecture Series, which focuses on Japanese tea culture.

Chinese theater-maker Stan Lai (Lai Sheng-chuan 賴聲川) discusses the origins and evolution of Nightwalk in the Chinese Garden, his new, site-specific production for The Huntington. The play is the culmination of Lai's residency at The Huntington as the 2018 Cheng Family Visiting Artist and is developed and produced by the CalArts Center for New Performance.

The Civil War witnessed a number of critical turning points. Major battles, the Emancipation Proclamation, the election of 1864, and the New York City draft riots represent the kinds of military, political, and social events that could signal a profound shift in the conflict's direction or momentum. Speakers address the range, and potential for disagreement, inherent in any search for historical turning points.

Art historian Katharina I-Bon Suh of the Seoul National University discusses how the Garden of Seyeonjeong's design and layout served practical purposes but also alluded to philosophical metaphors and fantastical worlds in this East Asian Garden Lecture.

Daniel Eisenstein, professor of astronomy at Harvard University and director of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III, discusses the sound waves that propagated through the Universe after the Big Bang is this Carnegie Astronomy Lecture Series.

Author Matt Ritter, professor of botany at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, takes readers on a visual "tour" through the state's most iconic flora in a lecture based on his new book, California Plants.

Jason Dewees discusses how the sensory appeal of palms, along with their beautiful diversity, earn them a place in well-designed gardens.

Richard White uses images shot by landscape photographer Jesse White to explore California's story.

Joseph Masiero discusses how asteroid families in our Solar System are the last remnants of massive collisions that occurred as the Sun and planets were being formed.

Ronald White examines Lincoln's overlooked notes to himself, revealing new and surprising aspects of America's greatest president.

Carol Brash examines four different representations of the Garden of Solitary Delight (Dule yuan), built in the 11th century by scholar-official Sima Guang.

Marja K. Seidel, postdoctoral research associate with Carnegie Observatories, discusses her quest to understand dark matter and also shares her experiences bringing astronomy education to remote and under-served communities around the world.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Edward J. Larson discusses his new book, To the Edges of the Earth: 1909, the Race for the Three Poles, and the Climax of the Age of Exploration, and shares the story of three simultaneous and groundbreaking expeditions that pushed to the furthest reaches of the globe and brought within human reach a complete accounting of all the Earth's surface.