Usha Lee McFarling
Usha Lee McFarling is the senior writer and editor in the Office of Communications and Marketing at The Huntington.
Verso
Frontiers
The Huntington's botanical gardens have long been shaped by the vision of Jim Folsom.When young botany student Jim Folsom traveled from Austin, Texas, to The Huntington to interview for an assistant curator job in late August of 1984, he was completely turned off by the heavy traffic and acrid smog that hung over the Los Angeles basin.
Curator Olga Tsapina discusses the account book of an Underground Railroad operatorThe Huntington is home to extensive collections documenting the history of slavery and abolition in the United States and the Atlantic World.
Author Lynell George reflects on assembling the Huntington timelineAs part of the preparation for The Huntington’s Centennial year, Los Angeles–based journalist and essayist Lynell George spent months delving into the history of the institution
Beekeeper Kevin Heydman's relocation process is one for the booksBees are no strangers to The Huntington. There are numerous hives in trees on the property that cause few problems
A 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...
A 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.
The Huntington's experimental demonstration garden educates and enchantsIf ever there were a secret garden, it's the Ranch Garden at The Huntington...
Survivors from the dinosaur age, cycads continue to captivate collectors and researchersCycads are squat, woody, and branchless. They have no flowers, just spiky leaves that shred clothes and tear skin. They grow slowly, poison livestock and sometimes people.
The Longo Collection traces seismic shifts in obstetrics and gynecology over six centuriesThe images are haunting glimpses into the most primal and private of human moments—the experience of birth
The Huntington's cryopreservation program strives to conserve endangered plantsThe caretakers of the tender succulents in the Desert Garden may cringe at news of a prolonged cold snap, but Raquel Folgado