This is a collections-based learning and research center. It is a constitution of a library, museum of art, and botanical garden.

History

This establishment was founded in 1919 by Arabella and Henry Huntington. This was after Henry divorced his first wife Alice and married his uncle`s widow Arabella. After they got married, they relocated to Los Angeles where he worked as the CEO of public transit systems among other transit companies.

Founding Idea

His need to unite communities, promote trade, entertainment, and tourism was what brought up the idea. During his stay with Arabella, she also managed to influence him into liking art.

Library

The building was designed in a Mediterranean style in the year 1920. It consists of a collection of rare books and manuscripts, literature art, and the history of science.
The library contains more than 7 million manuscripts, 400,000 uncommon books, a million photographs among other things.

Research

This institute has limited access only allowing qualified scholars, Ph.D. students, and only those bearing letters from known scholars to use the facility. They have worked hand in hand with the University of Southern California to establish two more research centers: USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute and the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West.

Art Collection

These are exhibited in permanent fittings in the Huntington Art gallery. The unique exhibitions are showcased provisionally at the George Boone Gallery. They showcase their collections about political and social subjects in annual exhibition events.

Art Collections

The Huntington Art Gallery mainly specializes in collecting 17th century American Art and 18th century European Act. The European collection mainly contains French paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts. American Art on the other hand entails art holdings, painting collections, sculptures, and pictures from the stated time.

Acquisition

Over time, the gallery has acquired many distinct pieces which they showcase during exhibition events. The last famous acquisition was in 2012, which was a sculptor by Sargent Johnson that was said to have been made in 1937.

Botanical gardens

These gardens cover an area of 120 acres and are divided into: “Chinese garden”, “Dessert gardens”, “Japanese gardens” among many others. This was done to incorporate plants from diverse places as they tried to achieve a picture of uniting nations and communities.

Why go

Visiting such a place gives you the chance to interact one on one with history while getting access to books that you would normally not come across.

What to do

Apart from interacting with the rare pieces, make sure to walk around the gardens to enjoy the serene environment. If you love science museum, then you must try to visit California Science Centre Hall.