Services to the Community

In 1919, the Huntington's created a non-profit educational trust, ensuring that their San Marino property and collections would benefit scholars and visitors for generations. Godfrey Davis' essay The Huntington Library as a Research Center, 1925-1927 points out Huntington’s purpose in his 1919 indenture to be as follows:

“It’s Nature: A free public library, art gallery, museum and park, containing objects of artistic, historic or literary interest.

It's Object: Advancement of learing, the arts and sciences, and to promote the public welfare" (293).

Today the library remains an institution for learning, but it is not a free public library. Huntington meant for the library to be a free resource for the public, but today the library includes admission fees that visitors must pay. Their payment help with the funding of grants for future students, and the maintenance of the building.

Huntington had clear instructions for the public use of his library:

Apart from the use of the library and art gallery by competent students engaged in research, it is desirable that they be as accessible as circumstances may permit to the general public" (Davis, p. 300). In addition, Huntington states that the the manuscripts and rare books are too valuable to be distributed to the public, like in regular public libraries. Therefore, his guidelines are still in effect today, as the library remains an institution where the public can only view the items, but not check out any items. In this way, Huntington is preserving history.

Today's Services

Education


Today, the Huntington provides education programs for visitors, schools, children and adults. According to the Huntington website, the school programs serve approximately 12,000 children and 750 teachers each year. The library welcomes students, so it makes for an excellent school field trip, that is free. Educators and scholars have developed  lesson plans in science, art, and the humanities for students and teachers. Therefore, the Huntington library is still promoting the idea of education. Researchers are giving back to the community, by utilizing their own professional skills and constructing a way to get children and adults involved with learning about the history of books, as well as having an understanding of humanities, science, and art from a authentic perspective.

Research

The library functioned as a research library when Huntington was alive, and still continues to provide the same service. Scholars visit from around the world, each year to conduct advanced study in humanities using Huntington's collections. This public institution awards grants to scholars in the fields of history, literature, art, and the history of science. A new development is the Huntington Library Press, that publishes the Huntington Library Quarterly, as well as other books. The Huntington has become involved with historians using the collection to write books, make documentary films, and create history textbooks for school children. Therefore, the Huntington library's collection is preserved history that will help many people understand history of books, culture, manuscripts, and printing techniques, as well as art, and garden species. Today the Huntington includes 800,000 rare books and reference books, 4.5 million manuscripts, 1/2 million photographs and maps (Huntington). Before anyone received the Pulitzer prize, they had to conduct research. The Huntington collection provides rare materials that can help students create a thesis about their research project. This is a service for the academic world.

Tours
The Huntington provides different exhibits: permanent, and new exhibits on display for the public. The Huntington also provides a touring service to the public. In Huntington early history, Mr. Huntington provided private tours of his collection to scholars and book lovers, because it was his personal collection. Huntington might not have been knowledgeable of the history behind the books that he collected, though. Today the tradition of giving a tour remains the same, however more people are visiting. Today, a tour guide will take individuals or groups of people through the library, and the gardens, and provide information on each item. The tour guide should be educated and know the history of each item, so they can accurately answer any questions that the public might have. Aside from the rich resources inside the library, the outside architecture of the library is historical, as well as beautiful. The Huntington provides its location as a place for photographers to take picture,  directors to make movies, and couples to have a wedding. There are fees for this service, however, the  money would help with the maintenance of the garden and the building renovations.


Bookstore
There is a bookstore, where people ca purchase information about Huntington's art, or about the history of Huntington, in a biography. This is a great service, for people who want to know about Huntington's personal history. Huntington