Image: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens is using the approach to America’s 250th anniversary to foreground a broader view of Los Angeles history, framing the city’s past as a guide for its future. In a new essay published by the Los Angeles Business Journal for its America at 250 issue, Huntington president Karen R. Lawrence reflects on what Los Angeles can learn from its layered histories as the city prepares to welcome the world for the 2028 Olympics.
According to the museum’s June 30 newsletter, Lawrence’s essay draws on the exhibition 'This Land Is …' and on The Huntington’s collections to argue for the value of preserving histories that are often multiple, overlapping, and incomplete. The essay presents that work as part of a wider cultural conversation around the nation’s semiquincentennial, using Los Angeles as a local lens through which to think about the American story.
The exhibition 'This Land Is …' is the centerpiece of that programming. The Huntington describes it as being in dialogue with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and as bringing together diverse perspectives on the relationship between nature and nation. The show is organized around the idea that the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are intertwined with place, a framework that connects American civic language to landscapes, gardens, and the histories attached to them.
The Huntington’s newsletter also situates the exhibition within a larger multiyear initiative, 'Reflections for America at 250', which it says runs through 2027. That program invites visitors to reflect on the American story through the lens of land and includes a series of events designed to bring 'This Land Is ...' to life. The institution is presenting the project alongside other exhibitions and public programs already on view or scheduled across the campus.
The broader exhibition lineup underscores how central American identity and land-based histories are to The Huntington’s current programming. Ongoing and current projects listed in the newsletter include 'Reimagined American Art Galleries', 'the eight directions of the wind: Edmund de Waal at The Huntington', 'Stories from the Library: Damaged Goods', 'Stories from the Library: The Mirror of the Moon', 'Laura Aguilar: Body and Landscape', 'Mercedes Dorame—Deliquescence: Sites of Transformation', 'Sandy Rodriguez: Book 13', and 'Borderlands'.
The newsletter also highlights the institution’s holdings as part of the same story, noting that The Huntington holds six rare early printings of the Declaration of Independence, described as an unmatched West Coast collection. The museum says those copies show how the document was printed, circulated, read, debated, and used in the founding months of the United States, revealing it not only as a historical text but as a message in motion.
A related event, 'American Landmarks: Declaration of Independence', is scheduled for July 8 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The Huntington’s summer calendar also lists public programs including 'Rice Planting at the Japanese Heritage Shōya House' on July 2, 'Twilight Garden Strolls' and 'Twilight Garden Estate Tours' beginning July 5, and 'Second Sundays: Edmund de Waal' on July 12. The institution notes that 'This Land Is …' is now open.
