The Worlds of Olive Percival
Recently, KCET Departures published a series of essays about Olive Percival (1869–1945), an artist, bibliophile, art collector, suffragist, and passionate gardener who lived along the Arroyo. The Huntington Library houses part of the Olive Percival archive, which includes unpublished manuscripts, her diaries, and more than 700 photographs.
“More Like a Sermon”
When Abraham Lincoln completed his Second Inaugural Address in the waning days of the Civil War, Frederick Douglass remarked that “the address sounded more like a sermon than a state paper.” In a lecture at The Huntington Wednesday night, historian Harry S. Stout will explain how that speech was an American sermon to the world.
Reports on the Death of Letter Writing Are Greatly Exaggerated
When was the last time you wrote a real, honest-to-goodness letter? In the age of e-mail and texting, it is only natural to assume that the glorious age of letter writing was far superior to, say, the confines of 140 characters on Twitter.
Your Most Loving Son and Sailor Boy
On the original Armistice Day, Anthony Edward Mrazek was a young sailor who wrote long letters home to his parents and sister, signing them all “your most loving son and sailor boy.” His granddaughter has donated his collection of letters to The Huntington.
The Lincoln Lawyer
At the recent conference “Civil War Lives,” historian Ronald C. White Jr. described Abraham Lincoln’s unique diary and the impact of his legal training on his presidency. You can download the talk from iTunes U.
Great Scott (Not!)
What seemed to be a remarkable find in the manuscripts collection—a letter by Sir Walter Scott—turned out to be a facsimile. It serves as a reminder that it is not always easy to spot a copy.
New Dickens Acquisitions on View
Few authors are more synonymous with the holiday season than Charles Dickens, whose classic tale A Christmas Carol was written in 1843. The Huntington’s literary collections include about a thousand letters by Dickens, as well as first editions and handwritten drafts of literary manuscripts.
