AHRC Mobility Showcase Events14xii2011 (Edinburgh University); 15ii2011 (UCL)

The Henry E. Huntington LibrarySan Marino, California

Dr Steve Hindle(W.M. Keck Foundation Director of Research)

shindle@huntington.org

Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens• The Library: a research and reference collection• The Art Collection: strengths in British, European

and American Art; especially 18th c British portraiture; French decorative arts

• The Botanical gardens: a Japanese garden, a Chinese garden, a desert garden, a tropical garden

• The research program: fully-endowed (the W.M. Keck Foundation; the William French Smith Endowment)

Origins and History of the Collections• Founded 1924• One of America’s greatest collections of Anglo-

American history and literature• Originally designed to foster ‘research on the origin

and progress of the English speaking people’• Strong holdings in early printing (incunables) and the

history of science• Subsequent diversification: cartography, prints,

historical photographs, European printed books

A collections-based research institution• Particular strengths in British & American history

and literature, esp. in the early modern period• Early printed books (a major source for EEBO)• Archival collections (MSS Ellesmere, Hastings,

Montagu, Stowe)• Curatorial expertise:

http://www.huntington.org/thehuntington_full.aspx?id=598

• Huntington Digital Library http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/

The Facilities• The Munger Research Center (Administrative

HQ, President’s Office; Directors of the Library and of Research; Long-term fellows offices)

• The Ahmonson Reading Room: rare books and manuscripts (averages 70 readers per day, consulting 1100 rare items between them)

• The Rothenberg Reading Room: reference collection; secondary literature; journals

• The Gardens: a research resource in themselves

A fully-endowed fellowship program• $1.5m in research grants each year• Approximately 150 competitive fellowships

• 130 short-term fellowships (1-3 months)• 13-14 long-term fellowships (9-12 months)

• Six distinguished fellowships by invitation• Five are restricted to specific fields (British

History/literature; 19th c. American History; American history, literature or art history; early American history; the history of science)

• A sixth (the Avery Chair) is open to any field

The Dibner Program (History of Science)• Both long-term and short-term fellowships• Very significant program funding

(workshops, seminars)• The Burndy library (60,000 volumes), with

particular strengths in the printed scientific books (both British and European) of the Renaissance and Enlightenment

The Huntington Research Culture• 1500 readers a year (150 grantees)• A ‘library of last resort’• Digitization of finding aids (HDL) rather

than of collections• Lunchtime sociability• ‘Brown bag’ seminars• Fellows’ seminar group

Distinguished fellows 2011-12• Frances Dolan (English, UC Davis)• Ramon Guttierez (History, Chicago)• Peter Stallybrass (English, Penn)• Skip Stout (History/Religious Studies, Yale)• Bob Westmann (History, UC San Diego)

Distinguished fellows 2012-13 • Chris Brooks (History, Durham)• Bill Brown (English, Chicago)• David Hancock (History, Michigan)• Bruce Levine (History, Illinois)• Alan Taylor (History, UC Davis)

Distinguished fellows 2013-14 [include]• Alison Games (History, Georgetown)• Theresa Kelly (English, Wisconsin)• James Simpson (English, Harvard)

The Conference Program• Fully endowed: 6 x 2-day conferences a year• 12 speakers (up to 6 from the UK)• Hospitality at the Caltech Athenaeum• Now open to competitive tender (deadline:

15 March 2012)• Why is the Huntington the right venue?• Why is this the right time for this theme?

Conferences 2011-12• Samuel Johnson: New Contexts for a New Century• Civil War Lives• The New Maritime History• Sociable Places: Locating Enlightenment Culture• Visual Knowledge in the Early Modern Americas• Literary “Life Writing”• Genealogies of Genius

Conferences 2012-13• Britain’s American Revolution• Systems of Life: Politics, Economies, and the

Biological Sciences, 1750-1850• The Republic of Letters in North America, 1500-

1800• The Board of Longitude, 1714-1828• The Practice of Rulership, c.850-c.1250• Capitalizing on Finance: New Directions in the

History of Capitalism

Bringing the AHRC to the HEHL Party• Up to ten medium-term fellowships• 3-6 months duration• £1000pcm plus airfare• Working (but NOT office) space• Help with finding accommodation• Significant contributions to, and benefits

from, a thriving research culture