Videos and Recorded Programs

Dennis Kruska, a noted authority on the Yosemite Valley, discusses the literature that enticed sightseers to experience the Yosemite's scenic wonders following the first tourist party to the valley in 1855. The literary lure on tourism has worked so well, says Kruska, that today Yosemite is painfully loved to death.

Dympna Callaghan, William L. Safire Professor of Modern Letters at Syracuse University, considers Shakespeare's complaints about the limitations on what he could say and how he could say it.

A conversation between authors Susan Orlean (The Library Book) and Viet Thanh Nguyen (The Sympathizer) and moderated by William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West.

An esteemed panel of astronomers, historians, and engineers explore astronomy's fantastical theories and fascinating discoveries with moderator and Caltech university archivist Peter Sachs Collopy. Panelists include Tracy Drain, JPL Psyche mission deputy project systems engineer; Eun-Joo Ahn, astrophysicist and graduate student in history at UCSB; W. Patrick McCray, professor of history at UCSB; and John Mulchaey, Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair and Director of the Carnegie Observatories.

Author Julie Leung and illustrator Chris Sasaki discuss the inspiring true story behind their children's book, Paper Son. Li Wei Yang, curator of Pacific Rim Collections at The Huntington, introduces the program and offers historical context. A book signing follows the talk.

William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, explores the life of Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927) against the backdrop of American history. This program is a Haynes Foundation Lecture.

Noted ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin and cartographer Brian Hettler of the Amazon Conservation Team discuss the work of Richard Schultes, the 20th-century ethnobotanist, and share their new interactive map, based on the explorer's journals, that tracks his Amazon travels and offers insights into his role in the development of the field of ethnobotany in the US.

The year 1919 was a tumultuous one in American history. It was also the year that Henry E. Huntington created the institution that bears his name. This conference, designed around The Huntington's Nineteen Nineteen centennial exhibition, focuses on the social, cultural, and political events that provide a national and international context for Huntington's remarkable act of philanthropy.

Kristen L. Chiem, associate professor of art history at Pepperdine University, explores the role of floral imagery in Qing-dynasty China. Focusing on the peony, Chiem traces how artists used the flower to demonstrate imperial power during the 17th through 20th centuries. Prominently adorning portraits and material objects of Qing emperors and empresses, these images offer insight into gender, ethnicity, and diplomacy at court.

Researcher T.J. Stiles describes the last year of Custer's life through the eyes of teenager Bertie Swett. Swett came to know Custer and his wife Libbie at Fort Abraham Lincoln and in Manhattan while America approached a historic turning point. Swett bared witness to the notorious soldier's life as he pushed his career and fortune to the brink of disaster.

Sachiko Kusukawa, professor of the history of science at the University of Cambridge, explores the many ways images served early modern science, from anatomical atlases and botanical illustrations to telescopic and microscopic observations.

Edmund Russell, professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University and the Dibner Distinguished Fellow at The Huntington, discusses the motives, construction, and consequences of the completion of transcontinental telegraph in 1861.