Verso

The year 2021 proved to be filled with both challenges and hope. As we look back at Verso stories from the past year, we remind ourselves of where we have been and contemplate where we are headed.

Toyon is brightening winter landscapes throughout Southern California, including here at The Huntington.

On Sept. 24, 2021, a Queensland kauri (Agathis robusta) in The Huntington's Rose Garden was designated as a California Big Tree, The Huntington's first such honor. On Nov. 5, Matt Ritter, professor of botany at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, who serves as the coordinator for the California Big Tree Registry, paid a visit to The Huntington for a ceremony to officially certify the tree's status as the largest Queensland kauri in the state.

This year, The Huntington acquired a striking portrait of Moanahonga (Great Walker), an Ioway chief, painted around 1824 by the American artist Charles Bird King.

Hilary Mantel, whose literary archive is held at The Huntington, is one of the most critically acclaimed authors working today.

Calligraphy is one of the oldest and most esteemed art forms in China. Its distinctive quality arises from its duality as both a visual art form and a means of written communication. This becomes apparent in The Huntington's exhibition "A Garden of Words: The Calligraphy of Liu Fang Yuan."

The Huntington has deep collections on the history of Spanish-speaking North America created from a centurylong record of acquiring materials in this field.

Soon after Henry E. Huntington purchased the San Marino Ranch (formerly owned by James DeBarth Shorb) in 1903, he learned that many agricultural crops—such as avocados, peaches, and nuts—could be grown on the property.