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.