Frontiers
Huntington Frontiers connects readers with the rich intellectual life of The Huntington, capturing in news and features the work of researchers, educators, curators, and others across a range of disciplines. It is produced semi-annually by The Huntington’s Office of Communications and Marketing.
What’s Old Is New Again
Sat., June 15, 2019 | Usha Lee McFarlingA Huntington researcher's surprising findings about the evolution of Dioon cycadsThe cycad is often regarded as a living fossil—a favorite food of dinosaurs that hasn’t changed much in hundreds of millions of years...
Seeking Happiness on Both Sides of the Border
Fri., Dec. 28, 2018 | Lynell GeorgeThe distance between Mexico and the U.S. can't always be measured in milesFor generations, Mexican migrants hoping to expand their possibilities have had to bridge the emotional gap between home and the unknown...
Who’s Behind the Curtain?
Fri., Dec. 28, 2018 | Lynne HeffleyKathleen Quinn's elegant drapes accent the renovation of a grand staircaseIn advance of The Huntington’s Centennial celebration, which gets under way in the fall of 2019, Catherine Hess, chief curator of European art, decided that it was time to reimagine the décor...
In the Back of God’s Elbow
Fri., Dec. 28, 2018 | Olga Tsapina, Ph.D.A collection of correspondence yields insight into the Seven Years' WarOn November 13, 1756, James Grahame hastily scribbled a letter at his London residence. The note, addressed to William Mercer in Perth, Scotland, confirmed that Grahame’s friend and William’s brother, Colonel James F. Mercer, was dead.
Reading the Chinese Garden
Fri., Dec. 28, 2018 | Phillip E. BloomThe garden's curator contemplates its poetry. With the start of the final phase of the Chinese Garden’s construction, we asked the garden’s curator, Phillip E. Bloom, who joined The Huntington in September 2017, to reflect on two of the initial features installed in 2008...
Examining The Blue Boy
Sun., April 1, 2018 | Usha Lee McFarlingA paintings conservator and an ear surgeon talk shopThomas Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy (ca. 1770) may well be an icon of Western art and one of the most beloved attractions at The Huntington, but now that it is nearly 250 years old, this epic portrait is in need of some tender loving care.
A Botanical Feathered Friend
Sun., April 1, 2018 | John TragerCactus's soft touch provides key to its survivalAs The Huntington’s curator of desert collections, I, along with my staff, care for 2,000 species of succulents, including a vast range of cacti, in the 10-acre Desert Garden...
Counting Extinction
Sun., April 1, 2018 | Daniel Lewis, Ph.D.The last observations of a small Hawaiian birdIn Belonging on an Island: Birds, Extinction, and Evolution in Hawai‘i (Yale University Press, 2018), Daniel Lewis takes readers on a 1,000-year journey as he explores the Hawaiian Islands’ beautiful birds and a variety of topics...