Reconstructing the social and economic lives of Japanese Americans in Los Angeles in the early to mid-20th century requires a great deal of sleuthing in the archives. One such useful resource is the humble and often-overlooked city directory, which can reveal a great deal about the history of the region and its residents.
An exhibition centered around Joseph Wright of Derby's masterpiece "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump" becomes a starting point to examine how witnessing experiments with air pumps were critically important for the transfer of scientific knowledge during the Enlightenment and after.
Featuring Otto von Guericke's 1672 publication "Experimenta nova (ut vocantur) Magdeburgica de vacuo spatio"
Produced for the exhibition "Science and the Sublime: A Masterpiece by Joseph Wright of Derby"
Anyone who has ever been overwhelmed by a bounty of fruit from a generous backyard tree faces an age-old challenge: how to store abundant, delicious, and nutritious fruit for leaner times. The Huntington Library’s cookbook collection features entire volumes dedicated to the preservation of fruit.
In her new book, Temples in the Cliffside: Buddhist Art in Sichuan, Sonya Lee argues that centuries-old religious monuments can be part of the world's sustainable future. This talk focuses on the transformation of cave temples from religious centers into tourist destinations in southwest China, where venerable sites such as Leshan, Nankan, and Baodingshan have become entangled in some of the most consequential economic, political, and religious trends in Asia today.