Conclusion

In researching the history of the Huntington research library, I identified the history of book collecting, library buildings, early history of Southern California, and the history of the library profession. Southern California was a new territory, which allowed wealthy Americans, such as Huntington to develop the land for expansion. Library buildings were also a new idea, which was inspired by men who were wealthy because of their innovative ideas. Huntington and Carnegie were developers, and they had the vision to provide educational resources to the public for free.  Huntington loved Southern California because of the possibly to become a commercial business. In addition, Huntington had a passion for books and education. What started as a hobby, with Huntington collecting books and rare materials, transformed into a major research institution. Influenced by his personal assistant's vision of an instiutiuon for books, Huntington was able to see how his interests in books could be an educational tool, useful for anyone who wanted to learn.

This library history provided information on the design of the library building. The Carnegie libraries were prominent during the construction of the Huntington library, so the idea of building design in a Beaux style was the norm for large buildings. Huntington wanted the design to reflect what the building had to offer—a rare book and art collection in the humanities’ and sciences field in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The building was representative of the artwork and books of the period, because they all reflected back to the classical era. The library was large, because Huntington expected large amounts of people to visit his library.

This library history also showed the process of selection; how Huntington developed his collection, by employing book and art dealers of the period, and having them bid on library collections in an auction. From this process of selection, and the growing number of artifacts and rare materials in his mansion, this history shows why library staff was important. The operation of the staff was needed because Huntington kept purchasing items, and there needed to be experts who knew the value of materials, to notice their authenticity. In addition, there was a need for catalogers and bibliographers to organize his large collection. Many people were involved with the maintenance and preservation of books and art at the early Huntington in New York. Building architects were needed to redesign the building to accommodate the growing collection, as well, in San Marino. Therefore, the Huntington library history reveals the librarian career, and how most librarians were educated in other fields of study before they became librarians. They were experts in different fields, and they could use thier expertize as librarians.

This research shows the importance of librarians, or people who choose to collect ancient artifacts. Huntington knew what he wanted to purchase based on his collection criteria, because he could afford to purchase. The fact that he hired people to maintain his collection shows how Huntington is a collection manager. He provided the funding for the books, and the building of the library, and the staff, as well as a mission statement, which shows the philosophy of the library and what its purpose is to the public and for scholars. Today, we have the Huntington library that holds authentic materials,  which is one of the hardest things to have in today's society.  Many times people are not sure, on the Internet, if the work they are researching is authentic. By not allowing people to check out books, they can preserve the history of rare books and artwork. Scholars can read and refer to the information in the Huntington library, from the original source, and through the scholars we can learn about history. Scholars give back to the community by creating research papers, journals, and textbooks for schools and colleges. Therefore, there are many ways to study history, from the physical manuscript, or book, and from the libary. The library study is similar to the book study, in a sense, that all aspects have to be considered, including the physical building structure of the lirbary, the educational background of the staff, the funding, the location, the type of books or items collected, mission statements, users of the library, as well as the type of service that the library provides. All of these elements are ways of understanding culture through history.

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

Librarian Salary

Huntington and his Library Staff

 Image from http://huntingtonblogs.org/2012/04/national-library-week/

I could not locate the Huntington librarian salary, but most of Huntington's librarians were professors, so the money that they received may have been equivalent to the salary of a professor.

Work Where you Live

"In 1920, Mr. Huntington moved his collections from New York City to the newly completed library building designed by Myron Hunt, and also moved his library staff and their families to California" (Bernal p. 15). The fact that Huntington moved his entire library staff and their families from New York to California raises the question, as to  whether or not their living quarters were built into their salary. Huntington could have payed his librarians wages, but because he provided a home for them, and their families could mean that they were provided for. In this case, the cost of living would be less, because they are working where they live. In addition, the librarians would not be living too far away from their family,   because their family was living at the Huntington living quarters. This would allow Huntington to have his library staff to work long hours and not have to worry about traveling expenses. Since they were living in the Huntington living quarters, they may have been provided meals, or the wives of the family may have cooked their meals. Do the librarians live free and make a low salary? Do the librarian receive standard wages for librarian profession, or reduced wages because they have living quarters. These are some ideas about how the salary may have been considered.

There would not be any turnover in the library position, because they lived where they worked. The Huntington's first librarian, George W. Cole stayed a librarian until his retirement, then he became "Librarian Emeritus" in 1924. The definition of emeriti is one who is retired but retains an honorary title corresponding to that held immediately before retirement (Farlex). Therefore, compared to today's employment struggles, the position was secure.The turnover was based on age. This lifestyle allowed many people to spend the time becoming an authority in their field, instead of having to be multi-faceted because unstable employment, or layoffs. Cole, and other librarians spent their entire life focusing on one career and working for the same boss.

Carnegie Grant

Huntington was a wealthy man, who supported the funding for the building and collection for his own private library. Having developed local rail transportation, the light rail systems of the Pacific Electric Railway Company and its Red Car line, and developed land and utilities throughout the Los Angeles area, Huntington was wealthy enough to develop and build a library on his own. A Carnegie Grant was not provided for this library. Huntington is similar to Carnegie in the fact that they both helped develop and expand America, and they used their wealth to establish libraries that would help educate individuals. Carnegie is considered to be one of the richest men in history, and Huntington is considered to be a great book collector of his time, with a little help from book dealers.

Since Huntington is an upper-class, wealthy man, he did not need Carnegie's grant money; instead, he used his own money to fund the entire library building project, as well as purchase all the items his the collection. Huntington's library was a personal project that benefited many individuals.  However, there were many other grants awarded to the Huntington library. According to LA Times online newspaper, in 1988, the Huntington Library received a $237,300 grant from the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. The grant was used for the conservation and renovation of the art collection gallery (LA Times). Another grant from the National Science Foundation, awarded the Huntington $367,000 grant to archive the history of the aerospace industry in Southern California (Huntington Press). The grant is useful for two years, and the money would be used to collect original documentary materials and oral histories and make them available to researchers.  This project would be considered a research collaboration between the Huntington library and USC's College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. These grants suggest that the library is a research facility that should grow and expand on the collection, to include more science materials.

Library History and the Development of Libraries

Development of Libraries from 1850 to 1920

The concept of the free public library was developed in America, in the nineteenth century.
The year 1876 was the start of history of librarianship in the United Sates, including the American Library Association Library Journal, Melvil Dewey's decimal system for classification, Carnegie Libraries, and the women's clubs movement. Theses movements believed in giving communities access to knowledge, so they can find information and help better themselves with materials located in public libraries. The funding from the libraries came from businessman, Andrew Carnegie, who was a firm believe in helping people who wanted to help themselves (Carnegie). The diversity question about the institution can be answered by looking at the racial situation in the early 1900s. According to  Cheryl Knott Malone's article Autonomy and Accommodation: Houston's Colored Carnegie Library, 1907-1922,  libraries were segregated in the 1900s.  For instance, in Houston, African American leaders were rejected from using the Houston Lyceum Carnegie Library. This was an issue that Carnegie dealt with when funding libraries. Would non-white people be allowed to access the library? Due to the time period, Carnegie could not integrate blacks into using the white library. Therefore, he provided a construction grant to Booker T. Washington, and Emmet J. Scott to build a library for black community, which was completed in 1913, and included an all-black board of trustees to govern the library (Malone, p.1). There is a sense that Carnegie wanted his libraries to be integrated, with many different races, but the era was not supportive of the idea because the were still under segregation in Southern States. Carnegie still provided for the African Americans in their own community, which shows that he wanted to help others and provide a free service to everyone.

This information on African American library history, concerning the Carnegie Grant, provides some insight into the diversity of Huntington's research institution in the 1900s. In assuming that African Americans were not allowed to have access to a white library, then the early Huntington library would not have allowed different nationalities to visit his private library.


Huntington's library was part of the same concept, the development of a free research library for scholars. While the public library was a free resource for everyday people, who wanted to further their knowledge in the everyday world,  Huntington's library helped scholars who wanted to further their knowledge in the educational world. This library history shows that there was a need for a free service to educate people in communities. These institutions were unique in their time because they allowed citizens free access to recorded history and information stored on a shelf for viewing. The Huntington early library is a reflection of its community indicating the commitment to education, culture, and historical preservation. This shows that people living in the 1900s valued early history. Most of the scholars were studying ancient or classical text for their research.In the beginning, Huntington collected books that were popular in his current day, such as first edition Dickens books. By collecting these books, we have access to original thoughts by the author present today. Huntington also recognised that it was important to collect historical materials from the 17th and 18th centuries. By looking at the history of the individual research library, we gain an understanding of the growth and development of the community, country, and the entire world. Many of the Pulitzer Prize winners had access to Huntington's original manuscripts and rare books, so they could better research their topic of study. Having the original document present help scholars base their thesis of of original documents, with original thoughts. Instead of interpretations of works, having access to first editions would be the most authentic version of the item, which can help scholars conduct accurate research.In addition, we learn history better when the artifact is in its original form.

Huntington's library's history shows us that research and education is important, for a better society. Having access to information can help us learn history and use history to develop new current ideas. The history of books teaches us that many different people can benefit from having access to books, so they can educate themselves and be self sufficient.  Huntington library teaches us to learn about history from different disciplines. Just like the book history, which incorporates many different people involved in its production, the library has many people involved to help it run efficiently.

Library Profession

The Huntington library history teaches us that the library profession the duty was to record information and organize information in a way that would be useful for people to find information. In 1887, Dewey founded the first library school at Columbia College in New York, which Huntington's first Librarian, Cole went to to learn how to become a bibliographer. This library history reveals how important it is to be trained accurately and have a good library education. Cole could not have been Huntington's bibliographer without an education. Therefore, the development of libraries inspired a new profession, and provided jobs for people. In order to become a librarian, insensitive training is important, therefore, it encourages the need to become educated in library science. The library profession was growing because of the Carnegie grants that helped build many libraries, as well, since 1884.  Therefore, librarians were very popular in the early 20th century, because there were library buildings that needed librarians, and a library support staff. Many jobs were available in librarianship. Huntington was able to locate a librarian for his private library collection because of the Carnegie library buildings, and Dewey's library school.  The library profession also developed because there were many ways to organize books, collect books, evaluate books, and distribute books. Each of these parts of the library needed a staff member.

Diverse Population

From all the research, it appears that Huntington wanted his library to be available to anyone who needed to use his collection to further advance research on topics related to humanities or sciences. In the early library years, the private collection was meant for Huntington only, because he was a book, art, and plant collector. However, the educational demographics of the United States in the early 20th century should be considered; in order to have access to the library, Huntington had to approve each person's visit to his library. The early library was limited to researchers, and in order to be a scholar, one must attend college. Therefore, the type of people who would use the library would be educated people. According to the Huntington Library Quarterly, the Huntington library policy was designed to provide historical information on  Anglo-American civilization:
"Mr. Huntington and the trustees are to be congratulated on having adopted a policy which aims to create a research institute for the study of the development of Anglo-American civilization (Davies, p. 302). This policy raises the question, as to what ethic groups would be interested in learning about ancient Anglo-American civilization in the early 1900s?
                                                                                                                  
As mentioned, Fredrick Turner was the first scholar to be resident to the Huntington Library. He is an example of the type of patron that had first access to the library. He grew up in a white, middle class family and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1884. He obtained a Ph.D in history from Johns Hopkins University in 1890, and became a professor of history at Wisconsin for a few years, and then Harvard. Therefore, well educated people were allowed to attend the library. In the early 1900s, more educated people of Turner's caliber were white, middle-class people. Therefore, the Huntington private library was a white middle-class institution, only because a few brilliant people were allowed to attend the library for research. Another idea to consider is the type of materials Huntington collected, that were in the humanities and sciences area. People who were interested in these materials might have wanted to see them in person. Huntington's collections were represented in newspapers which, at least, made his private library known worldwide.

San Marino

It is important to understand the history of the location in which Huntington decided to build his library, because it shows that Huntington was a forward thinker. In this case, land development could be seen as innovative for the early 1900s. The Huntington library is located in San Marino, California. The city of San Marino is within the Los Angeles county, and it was established 1913. Previously, the land was owned by the Gabrielino Indians, and in 1830 portions of San Marino were included in a Mexican Land grant and given to an Indian lady named Senora Victoria Reid (Wiki). In 1852, Reid's deed gave the land/ranch to Don Benito Wilson. After Wilson's death, the deed went to J. de Barth Shorb. Then, Huntington purchased the Shorb ranch in 1903, turned it into a masterpiece library and art museum, and it remains Huntington library and art gallery today. The founders of the San Marino city designed the community to be residential that would have beautiful gardens and parkways. Most homes in San Marino were built between 1920 and 1950 (San Marino, Wiki). Therefore, Huntington was one of the first to develop and build in the city. There was no population in San Marino, so it was hard to determine the population or demographics.  There were three or more ranches owned by a few people, who could afford to develop land, including Huntington. The first mayor of San Marino was general George S. Patton. The first San Marino school was opened in 1917, with three teachers and thirty-five pupils, kindergarten through the eight (San Marino, Wiki). Therefore, during the development of the Huntington library, there were few people living in San Marino because the town was being developed. Library history allows us to  to understand how land is acquired, either through deeds, or wills, or purchase. Who owned the land is important because it represent the demographics and population before developers arrived. Unfortunately, it does not seems as if many people lived in San Marino, when Huntington purchased the Shorb ranch.
Today, the library is suited for international usage. In the 1900s, anyone who could afford to attend college and receive an education and a degree, in the early 1900s, would have been in the middle- class to upper-class status. In addition, scholars from all over the world traveled to California, so they must have had money to do so. This early library was intended for scholars, but once the library was open to the public, the average person was invited to see the library.

First Opening

In 1919, the library was founded, designed and built in San Marino, California, and completed in 1920. Before the San Marino library was built, Huntington lived in a mansion in New York City, where he had his private library and collected books, art, plants and rare manuscripts, while the San Marino building was being constructed. Since the library, in New York, was Huntington's private library inside his mansion, it was not open to the public. Huntington read his books in the "library room". The library was meant for Huntington's own intellectual development. In addition, Huntington wanted to read the books in its original form. It appears that Huntington was interested in bookmaking, and the aesthetics of making a book, including book binding. In the beginning, Huntington's library had very limited access in New York, and in San Marino. Huntington's collection was often listed in the newspaper, and Huntington was known as a great collector, which inspired scholars to ask him if they could look at items in his collection. Huntington agreed to let scholars view his materials, and was interested in their research conclusions. Since more scholars were asking him to view the library, Huntington allowed his library collection to be visited on a registration basis. Only scholars could view collections while Huntington was present. Therefore, for Huntington the library was considered a private reading room library. For scholars, it was a research library. Only after Huntington's death did the library become open and available to the public. However, Huntington and his second wife, Arabella, only wanted the library to serve as a research institution for scholars. According to Peggy Park Bernal’s book The Huntington: Library, Art Collections, Botanical Gardens, the library officially opened to scholars in 1925 and about fifty scholars used the collections over the course of one year (p. 15). It appears that after the library was opened to the public more researchers were able to view the materials. The main purpose of the institution is to provide the advancement of learning.