Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens

Left: Library Building, Right: Virginia Scott Gallery, 1999, photos by John Hazeltine

San Marino, CA

626-405-2141

http://www.huntington.org

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is an educational and cultural center set amidst 150 acres of breathtaking gardens. Three art galleries and a library showcase magnificent collections of rare books and manuscripts, 18th and 19th century British and French art, and American art from the 18th to the early 20th century. Highlights include Gainsborough's The Blue Boy, Lawrence's Pinkie, the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (c.1410), the Gutenberg Bible (c.1455), original letters of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Lincoln, and an unsurpassed collection of early editions of Shakespeare. Over 500,000 visitors from around the world enjoy The Huntington each year, and nearly 2,000 researchers conduct scholarly studies among the world-renowned collections.

The Huntington was founded by railroad and real estate magnate Henry Edwards Huntington in 1919. The galleries, library exhibits, and botanical gardens opened to the public in 1928, a year after Mr. Huntington's death. The private, nonprofit institution is supported by gifts from individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies, and by a private endowment that provides about 50% of the institution's annual budget.

Call museum for admission fees and hours.

TFAO also suggests this video:

American Art at the Huntington: 15 minutes 1994. "This short video provides an introduction to the Virginia Steele Scott collection of American art at the Huntington Library Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. The presentation is designed for children ages 9 through 14 and is intended to be shown prior to a school group's visit to the Huntington. The video's whimsical host takes us on a whiz-bang tour, skipping through the Huntington's gardens and galleries. The host's magical picture frame allows us to go from the Colonial period through the early 20th century. We learn about the works of Copley, Stuart, Sargent, Cassatt, Church, and Harnett as well as review the general concepts of portraiture, still life, landscape, and genre painting. The host's dialogue takes a lighthearted yet educationally sound approach, which makes the background information on the paintings particularly accessible to today's young audiences."

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Visit the Table of Contents for Resource Library for thousands of articles and essays on American art.