About the Huntington
Media Contacts: Thea M. Page, 626-405-2260, [email protected] Susan Turner-Lowe, 626-405-2269, [email protected]
About The Huntington
The world-renowned Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is a collections-based research and educational center serving scholars and the general public. Surrounded by 120 acres of breathtaking gardens are four art galleries and a library showcasing magnificent collections of rare books and manuscripts, European art from the 15th to the early 20th century, and American art from the late 17th to the early 20th century. More than 500,000 visitors from around the world enjoy The Huntington each year, and nearly 1,700 researchers conduct scholarly studies among the vast collections. The Huntington was founded by railroad and real estate magnate Henry Edwards Huntington in 1919. The museum and 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 30 percent of the institution’s annual operating budget. At the heart of The Huntington is the Library , which contains more than 6 million manuscripts, books, photographs, and other works in the fields of American and British history, literature, art, and the history of science, medicine, and technology. About 200 of these items are on public display. Among the highlights of the collection are the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (ca. 1410); a Gutenberg Bible (ca. 1455); a world-class collection of early editions of Shakespeare; original letters of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and Lincoln; an unsurpassed collection of materials relating to the history of the American West; and outstanding holdings in the history of science and technology . The Huntington Art Gallery is housed in the original Beaux Arts mansion built for Henry and his wife, Arabella, Huntington in 1911. The former Huntington residence is home to a world-famous collection of British paintings, notably Gainsborough’s Blue Boy, Lawrence’s Pinkie, Reynolds’s Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse, and works by Constable, Turner, Romney, and Van Dyke. (Note: these works have been on display in the Erburu Gallery during the renovation of the Huntington Gallery.) The Arabella Huntington Memorial Collection of Renaissance paintings and French decorative arts will be incorporated into the new installation of the Huntington Gallery for its May 2008 reopening. Rogier van der Weyden’s 15th-century masterpiece Madonna and Child, one of the key works in this collection, is considered by many to be the most important painting at The Huntington. Just a short walk across the Shakespeare Garden is the Virginia Steele Scott Gallery, where American paintings and decorative arts are on display, including works by Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, Frederick Remington, Gilbert Stuart, Edward Hopper, and Robert Motherwell. Adjacent to the Scott Gallery is the new Lois and Robert F. Erburu Gallery, opened in 2005, that eventually will hold The Huntington’s expanding collection of American works. Changing exhibitions
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens I 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108 I 626.40 5.2100 2
are presented in the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery, a historic building (originally Henry and Arabella Huntington’s elegant garage, built in 1911) that was renovated as an exhibition space in 2000. The Botanical Gardens contain more than 14,000 different kinds of plants in more than a dozen principal garden areas, including the Japanese, Rose, Shakespeare, Camellia, Jungle, Palm, and Australian gardens. The 10-acre Desert Garden includes nearly 5,000 species of desert plants in a variety of unusual shapes, forms, and colors that are a delight to visitors year round. The beautiful North Vista, framing a view of the San Gabriel Mountains, is flanked by 17th-century statuary and acres of camellias. A waterfall cascades through the lush Jungle Garden, leading to tranquil lily ponds where koi, turtles, and ducks thrive among the water lilies and lotus. On a shady hilltop in the Japanese Garden, a 19th-century Japanese house (complete with traditional furnishings) overlooks a drum bridge spanning a large koi pond. Botanical education has become a central focal point for The Huntington; the Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science, opened in fall 2005, is expressly geared toward engaging middle-school students and their families in inquiry-based learning about plants, ecosystems, and biodiversity. Adjacent to that is the Helen and Peter Bing Children’s Garden, introducing youngsters to the wonders of the natural world in a playful one-acre garden with interactive elements based on the themes of earth, air, light, and water. And the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, Liu Fang Yuan, The Huntington’s new Chinese garden that features a lake, multiple bridges and pavilions, as well as a teahouse and tea shop is the newest addition to the gounds.
VISITOR INFORMATION The Huntington is open to the public Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from noon to 4:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed Tuesdays and major holidays. Admission on weekdays: $15 adults, $12 seniors (65+), $10 students (ages 12–18 or with full-time student I.D.), $6 youth (ages 5 – 11), free for children under 5. Group rate $11 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. Admission on weekends and Monday holidays: $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students, $6 youth, free for children under 5. Group rate $14 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. Admission is free to all visitors on the first Thursday of each month with advanced tickets. Information: 626-405-2100 or www.huntington.org.
# # #
Updated 4/08