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President's Message:  March - April 2006

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"The Power of Collaboration"

The good work accomplished every day at The Huntington is multiplied exponentially through partnerships and relationships with other organizations and groups; we touch many more lives than we could without such alliances. These collaborations are numerous and varied — ranging from educational programs with Pasadena Unified School District and Art Center College of Design to research projects with USC, Caltech, and the Getty. They include working relationships with such organizations as the Chicago Botanic Garden, with whom the Huntington will contribute to a computer-based system for recording the holdings of gardens across the nation. In every instance, we strive to make our collections available to more scholars and experts, schoolchildren and visitors, opening avenues to knowledge and beauty.

While some partnerships extend around the world, such as our exchange program with Oxford University in London, and our sister garden, China’s historic Zhuo Zheng Yuan, the Humble Administrator’s Garden in Suzhou, many take place with institutions right here in our own backyard.

The Huntington and Caltech have never been closer than in the last few years as new collaborations have flourished. Pairing Caltech’s cutting-edge science with the Huntington’s educational outreach has resulted in a new project funded by the National Science Foundation. This professional development program exposes high school teachers to cell biology, genetics, and cell development with guest lecturers from Caltech, as well as the University of California at Irvine. Meanwhile, a generous donor has knit the two institutions even closer by establishing the Eleanor Searle Visiting Professorship in the History of Science, which puts visiting professors at Caltech in touch with the Huntington’s substantial collections on the history of science and technology.

We also have forged significant intellectual collaborations with the University of Southern California. Working together, we have created the Huntington-USC Center for the Study of California and the West, as well as the USC-Huntington Institute for Early Modern Studies. In both cases, as USC’s distinguished faculty guides and nurtures future scholars, we provide them with the research materials they need to soar in their academic pursuits.

The Getty is likewise an important colleague and a great friend. A world leader in art conservation, the Getty oversees the conservation of a significant share of paintings and sculpture in our collection. But our joint undertakings are not just confined to art; the Getty recently provided grants for our first institution-wide master plan, and last year we co-sponsored a conference with the Getty Research Institute that featured scholars discussing Chinese and Japanese gardens.

It’s easy to talk about collaborations but truly a challenge to make them successful because each institution has its own culture and decision-making structures. I’m extremely proud of how deftly Huntington curators and staff have built bridges between myriad organizations, nurturing important professional relationships and finding creative ways to work with colleagues near and far.

None of these efforts could exist without the generous cooperation of our donors. Partners such as the The Rose Hills Foundation, the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation, Ahmanson Foundation, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the Weingart Foundation, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, and the Fletcher Jones Foundation are committed to ensuring that The Huntington fulfills its mission. Selected government grant-making agencies such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and many individual donors also provide essential support. In all these partnerships, we are grateful for the opportunity to work together.

Steve Koblik, President