Watch, Read, Listen

News, stories, features, videos and podcasts by The Huntington.

Do Not Open

Thu., April 13, 2017 | Susan Turner-Lowe, Aric Allen

The Huntington Library is a vast treasure box, replete with more than nine million items, including rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and maps. In addition, the Library houses a variety of oddities—such as a set of false teeth, an Oscar statuette, and a collection of vintage light bulbs.

Videos and Recorded Programs

Potosí, Silver, and the Coming of the Modern World

Wed., April 12, 2017

John Demos, Samuel Knight Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University and the Ritchie Distinguished Fellow at The Huntington, presents an account of Potosí, the great South American silver mine and boomtown that galvanized imperial Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries, fueled the rise of capitalism, destroyed native peoples and cultures en masse, and changed history—for good or ill?

Videos and Recorded Programs

DO NOT OPEN! Investigating an Artifact from The Huntington’s Vault

Tue., April 11, 2017

The Huntington has the only known recording of Joseph H. Hazelton’s eyewitness account of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Aric Allen documents the story of this strange artifact.

Verso

The Power of Touch

Mon., April 10, 2017 | Jennifer A. Watts

One afternoon in the Library's archive, I found a battered and scuffed photograph at the bottom of a small pile. Twenty-four men gaze somberly at the camera; all wear jackets and ties. The mere fact that the 19th-century portrait showed Black and white men respectfully intermingled

Verso

Telling Her Stories

Thu., April 6, 2017 | Kevin Durkin

The Huntington is launching the first major exhibition on the life and work of award-winning science-fiction writer Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006), whose literary archive resides here. She was the first science fiction writer to receive a prestigious MacArthur "genius" award and the first African American woman to win widespread recognition writing in that genre.

Videos and Recorded Programs

Carnegie Lecture Series: Unraveling the Mysteries of Exploding Stars

Mon., April 3, 2017

Tony Piro discusses how scientists are combining observations with theoretical modeling to unravel the mysteries of supernovae.

Verso

West of Walden

Mon., April 3, 2017 | Laura Dassow

"Walden. Yesterday I came here to live." That entry from the journal of Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), and the intellectual journey it began, would by themselves be enough to place him in the American pantheon of writers and thinkers.

Frontiers

The Perfect Wedding Gift

Two 15th-century panels from an Italian wedding chest tell a tale of passionate love

Sat., April 1, 2017 | Catherine Hess

Newly married couples in 15th- and 16th-century Italy—like newlyweds today—could expect to receive a pile of wedding gifts. One of the most common gifts was a cassone, or big box...