Henry Edwards Huntington papers, 1640-1994, bulk 1840-1927

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Summary

Creators:
Huntington, Henry Edwards, 1850-1927
Abstract:
This collection consists of the personal and business papers of Henry Edwards Huntington, American railroad and land developer and book, manuscript, and art collector. The papers deal chiefly with California railways and Southern California real estate and industry. There are also papers related to the Huntington family and the founding and history of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California.
Extent:
540 Linear Feet (approximately 470 boxes, 1,060 volumes, 100 rolled items and oversize folders, and objects)
Language:
Materials are in English with some German and French.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Henry Edwards Huntington papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of the personal and business papers of Henry E. Huntington. There is material related to the Huntington, Holladay, and Metcalf families, but most of the collection deals with Huntington's business interests in Southern California, railways, real estate, and industry. There is a series about Henry E. Huntington and his family that includes biographical information, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, ephemera, and physical objects. There is material related to the Huntington Land and Improvement Company, Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, and the Pacific Electric Railway Company as well as other businesses in Los Angeles County, Orange County, and San Gabriel Valley, California. This material includes business records, account books, annual reports, correspondence, maps, tracts, balance sheets, and others. There is also material related to the founding of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens including auction catalogs, invoices, receipts, and bills for art and rare books, and information regarding a lawsuit about Huntington's estate tax after his death, and the passing of Proposition 15, in 1930, which exempted The Huntington from paying California property tax. There is also material related to Collis P. Huntington and his business interests and Arabella Huntington. The largest series contains over 22,000 pieces of personal and business correspondence spanning approximately 1790 to 1950. The physical objects include Henry E. Huntington's lunch box, razors, traveling trunk, and other items.

Biographical / historical:

Henry Edwards Huntington (1850-1927), founder of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, was born in Oneonta, New York to Solon Huntington and Harriet Saunders Huntington. In 1870, Henry Huntington went to New York City, and with the assistance of his uncle Collis P. Huntington, American industrialist, and railway magnate (1821-1900), found work. In 1873, he married Mary Alice Prentice (they divorced in 1906); they had four children: Howard Edward (1876-1922); Clara Leonora Perkins (born 1878); Elizabeth Vincent Metcalf (born 1880); and Marian Prentice Huntington (1883-1973). After working for several railroad companies, in 1892, Henry Huntington moved to San Francisco to join his uncle, who was president of the Southern Pacific Company. After Collis Huntington's death in 1900 and Henry Huntington's purchase of the late James de Barth Shorb's ranch in 1902, in what is now San Marino, California, Huntington moved his business interests to the Los Angeles area, organizing the Pacific Electric Railway Company, the Huntington Land and Improvement Company, and other real estate and industrial development enterprises. He purchased the Mt. Lowe Railway in 1900, and in 1902 the Los Angeles and Pasadena Electric Railway Company. By 1903, Huntington owned more than 8,000 acres of land throughout Southern California. Even though Huntington had been a collector of books and art earlier, by 1908 he was dedicating more of his time to collecting books, art, and manuscripts, as well as working on his ranch and gardens. In 1911, Huntington purchased the E. Dwight Church Library which included Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, and in that same year obtained the Gutenberg Bible in the Robert Hoe sale. In July 1913, in Paris, France, Huntington married Arabella Huntington, the widow of his uncle, and an avid collector herself; she had a son, Archer, from a previous relationship. In 1917, Huntington purchased the Bridgewater Library from John Francis Granville Scrope Egerton, 3rd Earl of Ellesmere, which included Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury tales. In 1919, Henry and Arabella Huntington signed a trust document that turned their private estate into a public institution, and in 1922 Huntington signed a deed that transferred ownership of his books, manuscripts, art, and the San Marino Ranch to the Library Trustees. Huntington purchased Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy in 1921. Arabella Huntington died in September 1924. After an illness and traveling to New York City for surgery, Henry Huntington died in May 1927 at the age of 77; both Henry and Arabella Huntington are buried on the property in San Marino. The Huntington opened to the public in 1928.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Edwin L. Lewis, November 1939. Gift of Louise Ward Watkins, July 1946. Gift of Collis Holladay, April 1967. Gift of Mrs. Collis H. Holladay, 1977-1981. Gift of Clifford Henry, May 1978. Gift of Edwards H. Metcalf, 1978-1992. Purchased from Charles Apfelbaum, April 1981. Gift of Collis H. Holladay, Jr., December 1981. Gift of Edwards H. Metcalf, January 1982, January 1985. Purchased from Alta California, March 1982. Provenance unknown, in library as of January 1986. Gift of Frances Russell, March 2001.
Custodial history:

The Henry Edwards Huntington papers is made up of several acquisitions given to the Library from a variety of people, mostly members of the Huntington, Holladay, and Metcalf families. The acquisitions have come to the library over a span of approximately 40 years. One acquisition with unknown provenance was added to the collection in 1986. Some may be missing from The Huntington's records.

Processing information:

The collection has been worked on by multiple Huntington staff and has been used by researchers for decades. As of 2021, the collection is being re-processed by Brooke M. Black. The archivist is keeping much of the original work including organization and folder titles. The finding aid will be updated as work progresses. "HEH" is used in the finding aid as an acronym for Henry E. Huntington.

Arrangement:
Organized in the following series:
  1. Series 1: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, 1879-1966
  2. Series 2: Henry E. Huntington and family, 1640-1984 (bulk 1849-1977)
  3. Series 3: Correspondence, 1835-1952 (bulk 1890-1927)
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- California
Book collecting -- California
Book collectors -- California -- Archives
Businessmen -- California -- Archives
Gardens -- California -- San Marino
Land tenure -- California, Southern
Manuscripts -- Collectors and collecting -- California
Railroads -- California
Real property -- California, Southern
Business records -- California
Family papers -- California
Letters (correspondence) -- United States
Photographs
Professional papers -- California
Names:
Central Pacific Railroad Company
Duveen Brothers
Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery -- History -- Sources
Huntington Botanical Gardens -- History -- Sources
Huntington Land and Improvement Company
Kentucky Central Railway Company
Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Pacific Electric Railway Company
Southern Pacific Railroad Company
Standard Felt Company
Holladay family
Huntington family
Metcalf family
Barton, Loren Roberta, 1893-1975
Cohen, Alfred A. (Alfred Andrew), 1829-1887
Crocker, Charles, 1822-1888
Duveen, Joseph Duveen, Baron, 1869-1939
Farrand, Max, 1869-1945
Graham, Charles E.
Hale, George Ellery, 1868-1938
Hapgood, George D.
Hellman, Isaias W. (Isaias William), 1842-1920
Hertrich, William, 1878-1966
Hopkins, Mark, 1813-1878
Hunt, Myron, 1868-1952
Huntington, Arabella Duval, 1850 or 1851-1924
Huntington, Archer M. (Archer Milton), 1870-1955
Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821-1900
Metcalf, Edwards H. (Edwards Huntington)
Patton, George S. (George Smith), 1856-1927
Smith, George D. (George Dallas), 1870-1920
Stanford, Leland, 1824-1893
Places:
California, Southern -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Los Angeles County (Calif.) -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
San Francisco (Calif.) -- History -- Sources
San Marino (Calif.) -- History -- 20th century -- Sources

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

IN PROCESS COLLECTION. The portions of the collection that are not described in the container list are still being processed and material may be unavailable. Please contact Reader Services for more information.

NOT AVAILABLE. Boxes 67-69, 74: Audio materials are not available for paging until reformatted. Please contact Reader Services for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Henry Edwards Huntington papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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