Watch, Read, Listen

The biennial award of $10,000 for outstanding first monograph in American history and culture goes to R. Isabela Morales for “Happy Dreams of Liberty: An American Family in Slavery and Freedom.”

Currently on fellowship at The Huntington, I have been using my time to conduct research for my second book about how enslaved Africans in the Americas re-created and re-imagined African maritime traditions, including swimming, diving, surfing, boat-making, canoeing, and fishing.

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens announced today the appointment of Lauren Cross as the new Gail-Oxford Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts.

“Printed in 1085: The Chinese Buddhist Canon from the Song Dynasty” will showcase a sacred 11th-century Buddhist book and explore Chinese textual history.

There is little exaggeration in historian Richard Snow’s statement that the Sleeping Beauty Castle has become a sight “as familiar to the world as the Eiffel Tower.” The turrets were painted in shades of pink to create the illusion of the building as standing taller than its actual height.

Japan’s elite culture of tea, known as chanoyu, played a key role in the transition of Japan’s divided politics and civil wars of the late 16th century into a unified government in 1603.

Architect Billie Tsien joins Erin Chase, assistant curator of architecture at The Huntington, to view architectural materials from the library archives.

The Huntington's Chinese Garden is distinctive for its old Coast Live Oaks native to California. There's one ancient oak, considered to be the oldest at The Huntington, that needed special attention as the gardens were being built around its canopy.

A collection of medical remedies doesn’t seem like the obvious place for contentious or problematic texts. Yet in England during the medieval period, certain methods of healing could be controversial.

An array of winter-blooming plants from around the world are taking the stage at The Huntington, putting on floral performances that add vibrancy to the gardens at a time of the year that some might think is surprising.

As 2022 draws to a close, we invite you to look back at some of our favorite Verso stories from the past year. Below is a selection of posts, one from each of the past 12 months, highlighting what makes The Huntington such a remarkable place.

The Huntington has acquired the archive of American author Thomas Pynchon, considered by many to be among the greatest novelists of our time.