Pictorial Resources: The Henry E. Huntington Library's California and American West Collections

Abstract

An institution that displays Thomas Gainsborough's The Blue Boy and houses an E. A. Burbank portrait of Geronimo bespeaks of great diversity. The Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, noted for its splendid collection of English portraits and land scapes, also possesses a surprisingly fine array of photographs, prints, pencil sketches, and water colors depicting the American West. Ranging from original sketches by George Catlin to photographs by Edward Weston, the Huntington's pictorial archives offer scholars an unusually wide variety of mediums, topics, geographic areas, and time periods. Since the library's inception, Mr. Huntington and his librarians collected western pictorial material as a complement to the library's famous collection of rare books and manuscripts. Recognition in recent years of the importance of western photography and art has revealed the depth and flexibility of the Huntington's resources. Drawings originally procured for their documentary value are simultaneously studied as works of art. Photographs once utilized only as illustrations for scholarly monographs are now studied because of their photographer. Books once acquired for their textual value are now reviewed for their original photographs. Thus the Huntington, in an almost inci dental manner, has created a pictorial collection that in many ways matches the richness of its books and manuscripts. The library's photograph collection is remarkably well-rounded, possessing prints made by nearly every major pioneer photographer including O'Sullivan, Hillers, Haynes, Savage, Gardner, Hart, Soule, Russell, Jackson, Barry, Taber, Muybridge, and Watkins. Topically, the collection contains subjects common to many photo libraries such as agriculture, architecture, business, industry, Indians, culture, trans portation, significant events, and scientific exploration. Geographically, all the western states are covered, but, because of the library's location, a great percentage of its hold ings center on Southern California. Of course, the collection embraces a sizeable portrait file. At a conservative estimate, the collection encompasses approximately 150,000 prints, negatives, and albums. Half-tones and other photo-mechanically produced prints are excluded from this file. Qualified scholars gain access to the collection through an index or photo file, which is arranged by portraits, places, events, subjects, and in some cases by date and individual collection. Los Angeles, for example, is catalogued by street (Spring Street), place 175