Huntington, Henry Edwards

Related Category: Business Leaders

1850–1927, American financier, b. Oneonta, N.Y. He was prominent in railroad and other enterprises. Until the death of his uncle, Collis P. Huntington, the two were business associates. His estate at San Marino, near Pasadena, Calif., with botanical and other gardens, art collections, and library, together with a large endowment, was placed (1919–22) in the hands of trustees who were to maintain it for the public after his death. The Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery has the largest collection of incunabula in America; it excels also in rare legal documents showing the growth of English and American constitutional law, Americana (especially West Coast material), and manuscript collections of English literature. Its special treasures include a Gutenberg Bible, Gainsborough's Blue Boy, and Thomas Lawrence's Pinkie. The library gives a certain number of research fellowships and scholarships. It publishes many descriptive catalogs of its collections.