The Huntington’s remarkable works, remarkable times exhibition

For the past year, Citrus worked with a team of senior Huntington curators and research staff to design and program the digital exhibitions of the Remarkable Works, Remarkable Times exhibit.

On November 9, the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens will reopen the Main Exhibition Hall of its historic Library building with a new, dynamic permanent exhibition designed to invigorate visitors’ sense of connection to history and literature and to highlight the significance and uses of the Library’s incomparable collections of historical materials.

The new permanent installation, titled “Remarkable Works, Remarkable Times: Highlights from the Huntington Library,” will spotlight 12 key works in vignettes organized chronologically. Major items on display include the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare’s First Folio, Audubon’s Birds of America, and Henry David Thoreau’s manuscript of Walden. The exhibition will hold some 150 objects representing the Library’s growing collection, now numbering about 9 million items. Each vignette will incorporate other rare works to reflect the time and place, prompting visitors to make connections and consider a wider context. The goal is to provide unexpected juxtapositions and new insights into the collections, and into history itself. (excerpts from Huntington’s press release on Aug 8, 2013).

According to David Zeidberg, Avery Director of the Library, “The point of the new installation is to tell stories, and tell them well.” “The intention is to highlight selected works in a concise display that won’t overwhelm, but rather delight and profoundly inspire people again and again.” he added.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and located in San Marino, California.

Check out their website for more information www.huntington.org.