Benjamin Franklin was 51 years old in 1757 when he set out for England as a representative of Pennsylvania’s provincial Assembly. He would spend approximately 25 of his final 33 years abroad—first in England and then in France, where he courted and secured an alliance with Louis XVI during the American Revolution. In our cover feature, Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell writes that Franklin felt at home in France, where artists competed to capture his image for posterity.

In this issue of Huntington Frontiers, we encounter stories of people whose ambitions carried them far from home: Scholar Samuel Truett introduces us to Emilio Kosterlitzky, who sought exile not once but twice. The Russian émigré came to Mexico in the late 19th century and served in the Mexican army before arriving in California, where he found unique employment in Los Angeles. American geologist Raphael Pumpelly traveled in the opposite direction, finding himself in pre-Soviet Turkestan in 1903, excavating the ruins of an ancient civilization. Writer Mark Wheeler explores the link between Pumpelly and a modern-day archaeologist named Fredrik Hiebert.

Such international exploits should not be relegated to a bygone era. Botanist Zsolt Debreczy is currently visiting The Huntington, taking a break from his frequent travels documenting conifer trees of the temperate zones of the world. He is putting his finishing touches on his book Conifers Around the World and contemplating his next expedition.

On such journeys of discovery and exploration, The Huntington is both destination and departure point. Archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert’s interest in Raphael Pumpelly brought him to The Huntington, where Pumpelly’s papers are housed. Others, though, can trace the seed of discovery to a moment in the Huntington’s archives, as in the case of Cyndia Clegg (see page 25).

Indeed, The Huntington has long been a place for the comings and goings of scholars, who in turn share with us the adventures and accomplishments of the famous and obscure alike. But it is also a place for contemplation, a place where sixth-grade students from Rockdale Elementary (page 18) can enter the world of history and find a place of their own.

MATT STEVENS