The Huntington Library
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The Huntington Library is an educational and research institution established by Henry Huntington in San Marino, California, USA. In addition to the library, there is an art collection and botanical gardens.
(disambiguation: The Library is titled "The Huntington." The Hospital and the Hotel are also familiarly referred to as the Huntington.)
The library contains an extensive collection of rare books and manuscripts, including a Gutenberg Bible, the Ellesmere manuscript, and thousands of historical documents about Abraham Lincoln including the papers of the president's bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon. The rare books and manuscripts in the library are among the most heavily-used in the United States. The library holds some 6.5 million manuscripts and more than a million rare books. It is the only library in the world with the first two quartos of Hamlet; it holds the manuscript of Ben Franklin's autobiography, the first seven drafts of Thoreau's Walden, and many other great treasures.
The art collection consists of the works of 18th and 19th century British and French artists, and 18th, 19th, and early 20th century American artists, as well as changing exhibitions. The best known work in the collection is Thomas Gainsborough's The Blue Boy.
The Huntingon's superb botanical gardens cover 105 acres (425,000 m²) and the theme gardens contain rare plants from around the world. The Desert Garden's succulent collection is particularly fine, but the gardens contain many other notable collections, including the excellent Japanese Garden, Shakespeare garden, Palm Garden, and Jungle Garden, with a Chinese garden having been recently added to the southern end of the property. In addition, a large open field planted with Eucalyptus trees serves as a re-created "Australian Outback". The Huntington has a program to protect and propagate endangered plant species. In 1999 and 2002, a specimen of Amorphophallus titanum, or "corpse flower", bloomed at the facility.
The Gardens are commonly used as a filming location, having been used most frequently by Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions for its films The Hot Chick and Anger Management. Other films shot at The Huntington include:
- Beverly Hills Ninja
- Charlie's Angels (film)
- Intolerable Cruelty
- Memoirs of a Geisha
- Mystery Men
- S1m0ne
- Starsky & Hutch
- Midway (film)
See also
External links
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