Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens

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. Please call The Huntington for admission fees and hours. Accessed 2016

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."

TFAO does not maintain a lending library of videos or sell videos. Click here for information on how to borrow or purchase copies of VHS videos and DVDs listed in TFAO's Videos -DVD/VHS, an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format

Why was this sub-index page prepared?

When Resource Library publishes over time more than one article concerning an institution, there is created as an additional resource for readers a sub-index page containing links to each Resource Library article or essay concerning that institution, plus available information on its location and other descriptive information.

See TFAO's Museums Explained to learn about the "inner workings" of art museums and the functions of staff members. In the exhibitions section find out how to get the most out of a museum visit. See definitions for a glossary of museum-related words used in articles.
To help you plan visits to institutions exhibiting American art when traveling see Sources of Articles Indexed by State within the United States.

Unless otherwise noted, all text and image materials relating to the above institutional source were provided by that source. Before reproducing or transmitting text or images please read Resource Library's user agreement.

Traditional Fine Arts Organization's catalogues provide many more useful resources:

American Representational Art links to dozens of topics in American Representational Art
Audio Online a catalogue of online streaming audio recordings
Collections of Historic American Art notable private collections
Distinguished Artists a national registry of historic artists
Geographic Tour of American Representational Art History a catalogue of articles and essays that describe the evolution of American art from the inception of the United States to WWII.
Illustrated Audio Online streaming online narrated slide shows
Articles and Essays Online substantive texts published outside of Resource Library
Videos Online a comprehensive catalogue of online full motion videos streamed free to viewers
Videos an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format
Books general reference books published on paper
Interactive media media in CD-ROM format
Magazines paper-published magazines and journals

Search Resource Library for thousands of articles and essays on American art.