William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, explores the life of Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927) against the backdrop of American history. This program is a Haynes Foundation Lecture.

In Conversation: Susan Straight: In the Country of Women

Sep 17th, 2019 50m 30s

Award-winning author Susan Straight is joined by novelist Lisa See for a conversation about Straight's powerful new memoir, In the Country of Women, which traces the lives of six generations of immigrant and multiracial women in her extended fa

The Browns of California: A Conversation with Governor Jerry Brown

May 22nd, 2019 1h 3m

Governor Jerry Brown and author Miriam Pawel discuss the development of California through the perspective of the influential Brown family with moderator William Deverell.

Busted: Brash New Stories from Texas and New Mexico

Mar 8th, 2019 1h 1m

Authors Bryan Mealer and Joshua Wheeler discuss hardscrabble times, places, and people in Texas and New Mexico.

The Entrepreneurial Frontier: The West and American Innovation

Feb 14th, 2019 55m 54s

William Deverell, professor of history at USC, explores the regional dimensions of American entrepreneurialism, asking what special features or challenges found in the American West helped drive entrepreneurs and stimulate original thinking?

An American genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe

Sep 25th, 2018 1h 12m

Benjamin Madley, associate professor of history at UCLA, discusses the near-annihilation and survival of California's indigenous population under United States rule.

Belonging on an Island: Birds, Extinction, and Evolution in Hawai'i

Aug 17th, 2018 46m 5s

Daniel Lewis, the Dibner Senior Curator of the History of Science at The Huntington, discusses his new book about the birds of Hawaii. Belonging on an Island: Birds, Extinction, and Evolution in Hawai'i takes readers on a thousand-year journey

The Landscape Designs of Ralph Cornell

Nov 13th, 2017 1h 12m

Noted architect Brian Tichenor discusses the life of one of the first landscape architects in Southern California, Ralph Cornell's, and examines three of his highly significant landscape designs. The lecture is presented in collaboration with t

The Art of Farming: How a Farmer Sees the Future

May 8th, 2017 1h 4m

David Mas Masumoto, organic farmer and acclaimed author of Epitaph for a Peach and Harvest Son, is joined by his wife, Marcy Masumoto, for a lively talk about life on their Central California farm. Through stories that offer a personal perspect

The Chinese Question: The Gold Rushes and Global Politics

Mar 16th, 2017 38m 21s

Mae Ngai, Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies and professor of history at Columbia University, discusses the role of Chinese miners in the 19th-century gold rushes of California, Australia, and South Africa, and the rise of anti-Chi

Aerospace in Southern California

Dec 14th, 2016 1h 3m

The history of the aerospace industry in Southern California and its intersections with contemporary culture are the focus of this panel discussion, presented in conjunction with the exhibition of NASA’s Orbit Pavilion (on view at The Huntingto

The St. Francis Dam Collapse of 1928

May 21st, 2016 1h 1m

Considered the worst civil engineering failure in the history of California and the state’s second-worst disaster in terms of lives lost, the collapse of the St. Francis Dam ended the storied career of William Mulholland, the man who earlier ha

Ruth Patricia Shellhorn: Mid-Century Landscape Architecture and the Southern California Look

Apr 22nd, 2016 50m 53s

Landscape architect Kelly Comras, author of the biography Ruth Shellhorn, examines Shellhorn’s legacy in a lecture and short film screening.

In Conversation with Liz Goldwyn

Oct 16th, 2015 43m 12s

Author and filmmaker Liz Goldwyn discusses her book "Sporting Guide", a series of interlinked stories that evoke a lost world on the margins of Los Angeles society in the 1890s.

Motoring West

Aug 6th, 2015 29m 40s

Peter Blodgett,discusses his book, Motoring West: Automobile Pioneers, 1900–1909. Travel back in time to the the turn of the 20th century when Americans were hitting the road to explore the West by automobile. Blodgett is the H. Russell Smith F

Game Day at the Coliseum

Jan 30th, 2015 51m 3s

Frank Guridy, associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin and the Ray A. Billington Visiting Professor at Occidental College, discusses the rituals of labor and leisure that have played out at the Los Angeles Memorial Co

Beyond the Wild West: Violence and Death in the Pacific Ocean

Apr 18th, 2014 41m 9s

David Igler, author of “The Great Ocean: Pacific Worlds from Captain Cook to the Gold Rush,” reflects on the causes of widespread violence during the age of exploration and maritime commerce. Igler is professor of history at the University of C

Green Screen: How Trees Made California Modern

Nov 20th, 2013 1h 8m

Jared Farmer’s new book, “Trees in Paradise: A California History” (Norton, 2013), explores California’s first hundred years as a state through four trees: redwoods, eucalyptus, citrus, and palms. During this time, horticulturists planted innum

The World in the Curl: An Unconventional History of Surfing

Oct 31st, 2013 48m 19s

Peter Westwick discusses his new book, “The World in the Curl: An Unconventional History of Surfing”, co-authored with Peter Neushul. This Dibner Lecture covers the high-tech aspects of the history of surfing, including how surfboards and wetsu

Paving the Past: The Los Angeles River as Flood Control Device

Apr 23rd, 2013 55m 11s

William Deverell explores the history of the Los Angeles River and investigates the ways in which large-scale environmental projects such as cementing a river can inevitably reveal much about regional culture and identity. Deverell is a profess

Raymond Chandler and the Simple Art of Murder

Jan 25th, 2013 50m 56s

Judith Freeman talks about her latest book “The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved”. Chandler drew on many real events and people to create his iconic Los Angeles mystery novels. Freeman discusses Chandler’s real-life sources

Fire Season: Philip Connors and William Deverell in Conversation

Oct 14th, 2011 52m 3s

Philip Connors discusses his book Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout with William Deverell, professor of history at USC and director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West.

Are We All Braceros Now?

Apr 17th, 2011 40m 54s

Don Mitchell, Distinguished Professor of Geography at Syracuse University, speaks at the Huntington conference “Guest Workers: Western Origins, Global Future,” which looked at the role of guest workers in the United States—from the U.S.–Mexican

Guest Workers: Western Origins, Global Future

Apr 17th, 2011 12m 36s

Matthew Garcia introduces the Huntington conference “Guest Workers: Western Origins, Global Future,” which looked at the role of guest workers in the United States—from the U.S.–Mexican Bracero program of 1942–64 through the H2 programs today.

No Man’s Land: The Global History of Deportable Workers

Apr 17th, 2011 47m 45s

Cindy Hahamovitch, history professor at the College of William & Mary, speaks at the Huntington conference “Guest Workers: Western Origins, Global Future,” which looked at the role of guest workers in the United States—from the U.S.–Mexican Bra