The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens Mobility Showcase Events

1. AHRC Mobility Showcase Events
14xii2011 (Edinburgh University); 15ii2011 (UCL)
The Henry E. Huntington Library
San Marino, California
Dr Steve Hindle
(W.M. Keck Foundation Director of Research)
shindle@huntington.org

3. • The Library: a research and reference collection
Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens
• The Art Collection: strengths in British, European
and American Art; especially 18th c British
portraiture; French decorative arts
• The Botanical gardens: a Japanese garden, a
Chinese garden, a desert garden, a tropical garden
• The research program: fully-endowed (the W.M.
Keck Foundation; the William French Smith
Endowment)

4. • Founded 1924
Origins and History of the Collections
• One of America’s greatest collections of Anglo-
American history and literature
• Originally designed to foster ‘research on the origin
and progress of the English speaking people’
• Strong holdings in early printing (incunables) and the
history of science
• Subsequent diversification: cartography, prints,
historical photographs, European printed books

5. • Particular strengths in British & American history
and literature, esp. in the early modern period
A collections-based research institution
• Early printed books (a major source for EEBO)
• Archival collections (MSS Ellesmere, Hastings,
Montagu, Stowe)
• Curatorial expertise:
http://www.huntington.org/thehuntington_full.aspx
?id=598
• Huntington Digital Library
http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/

6. • The Munger Research Center (Administrative
HQ, President’s Office; Directors of the Library
The Facilities
and of Research; Long-term fellows offices)
• The Ahmonson Reading Room: rare books and
manuscripts (averages 70 readers per day,
consulting 1100 rare items between them)
• The Rothenberg Reading Room: reference
collection; secondary literature; journals
• The Gardens: a research resource in
themselves

16. • $1.5m in research grants each year
A fully-endowed fellowship program
• Approximately 150 competitive fellowships
• 130 short-term fellowships (1-3 months)
• 13-14 long-term fellowships (9-12 months)
• Six distinguished fellowships by invitation
• Five are restricted to specific fields (British
History/literature; 19th c. American History; American
history, literature or art history; early American
history; the history of science)
• A sixth (the Avery Chair) is open to any field

17. • Both long-term and short-term fellowships
The Dibner Program (History of Science)
• Very significant program funding
(workshops, seminars)
• The Burndy library (60,000 volumes), with
particular strengths in the printed scientific
books (both British and European) of the
Renaissance and Enlightenment

18. • 1500 readers a year (150 grantees)
The Huntington Research Culture
• A ‘library of last resort’
• Digitization of finding aids (HDL) rather
than of collections
• Lunchtime sociability
• ‘Brown bag’ seminars
• Fellows’ seminar group

19. • Frances Dolan (English, UC Davis)
Distinguished fellows 2011-12
• Ramon Guttierez (History, Chicago)
• Peter Stallybrass (English, Penn)
• Skip Stout (History/Religious Studies, Yale)
• Bob Westmann (History, UC San Diego)

20. • Chris Brooks (History, Durham)
Distinguished fellows 2012-13
• Bill Brown (English, Chicago)
• David Hancock (History, Michigan)
• Bruce Levine (History, Illinois)
• Alan Taylor (History, UC Davis)

21. • Alison Games (History, Georgetown)
Distinguished fellows 2013-14 [include]
• Theresa Kelly (English, Wisconsin)
• James Simpson (English, Harvard)

22. • Fully endowed: 6 x 2-day conferences a year
The Conference Program
• 12 speakers (up to 6 from the UK)
• Hospitality at the Caltech Athenaeum
• Now open to competitive tender (deadline:
15 March 2012)
• Why is the Huntington the right venue?
• Why is this the right time for this theme?

23. Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century
Conferences 2011-12
Civil War Lives
•
The New Maritime History
•
Sociable Places: Locating Enlightenment Culture
•
Visual Knowledge in the Early Modern Americas
•
Literary “Life Writing”
•
Genealogies of Genius
•
•

24. • Britain’s American Revolution
Conferences 2012-13
• Systems of Life: Politics, Economies, and the
Biological Sciences, 1750-1850
• The Republic of Letters in North America, 1500-
1800
• The Board of Longitude, 1714-1828
• The Practice of Rulership, c.850-c.1250
• Capitalizing on Finance: New Directions in the
History of Capitalism

25. • Up to ten medium-term fellowships
Bringing the AHRC to the HEHL Party
• 3-6 months duration
• £1000pcm plus airfare
• Working (but NOT office) space
• Help with finding accommodation
• Significant contributions to, and benefits
from, a thriving research culture