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Letters from Jane Austen’s mother reveal more than just a glimpse into the famous author’s family—they highlight the importance of archives and those who tend to them.

In this lecture video, Madeline Hsu, director of the Center for Migration Studies, discusses the transformative impacts of the 1965 Immigration Act and how the law shifted racial anxieties and hostilities that once targeted Asians toward Mexicans and Latinos as “brown perils.”

The Huntington announced today the appointment of Josh Garrett-Davis as the H. Russell Smith Foundation Curator of Western American History. Garrett-Davis has served for the past seven years as the Gamble Curator of Western History, Popular Culture, and Firearms at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. 

In 1905, Henry E. Huntington asked his superintendent of grounds, William Hertrich, if it was possible to grow an avocado orchard. Hertrich replied that he would be willing to make the experiment. More than a century later, the avocado experiment continues, linking communities and expanding our understanding of plant science.

The Huntington will produce a major exhibition and book on Black artist Sargent Claude Johnson, whose powerful works—masks, portrait busts, and figural sculptures created in the 1920s and 1930s—have become emblems of the Harlem Renaissance. This will be the first exhibition devoted to Johnson in over 25 years.

Spanning more than 450 years, the works come from a diverse group of artists from across the globe, including Edward Mitchell Bannister, Agostino Brunias, Dominique Fung, David Hockney, Letitia Huckaby, Mineo Mizuno, Kenjiro Nomura, Sandy Rodriguez, Betye Saar, Lilly Martin Spencer, Nari Ward, and Qiu Ying.

Vincent Lugo, whose family papers are at The Huntington, helped build the beloved La Laguna de San Gabriel playground, also known as “Monster Park.” The so-called monsters are play sculptures of an octopus called Ozzie, a whale known as Minnie, and a starfish named Stella, among other smiling sea creatures.

The Huntington has announced the acquisition of Zhou Dunyi Admiring Lotuses, a rare hanging scroll painted by Qiu Ying (ca. 1495–ca. 1552), one of the most celebrated Chinese artists of the 16th century.