Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Public Domain. Release under the CC BY Attribution license--http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/--Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Send requests to address or e-mail given USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Photographic portrait of Henry E. Huntington, [s.d.]. A balding elderly man with white hair, and a thick white moustache looks into the camera lens. He has small ears, and drooping soulful eyes set above a large nose. The man is clad in a dark suit, tie, and light-colored undershirt. "Henry Edwards Huntington was born February 27, 1850 in Oneonta, New York to Solon and Harriet Huntington. Despite the fact that his uncle was wealthy railroad executive Collis P. Huntington, builder of the Southern Pacific Railway, Henry did not have a particularly privileged childhood. He attended both public and private schools as a child and never attended college. After a brief career in the hardware business, Huntington went to work for his uncle running a sawmill in St. Albans, West Virginia in 1871. This job put Henry's foot in the railway business door, since the sawmill provided lumber for Collis' railway ventures. Making the most of the opportunity, Henry eventually became owner of the mill. In 1884, Collis invited Henry to come work with him in the railroad business. Railroads would consume the next six years of Henry's life until the death of his uncle in 1900. He received a large chunk of Collis' fortune and the chairmanship of the Southern Pacific Railway. But Henry had other ideas about his future. He soon sold the railroad to pursue other career opportunities, at one point becoming the single largest landowner in Southern California. In his personal life, as well as in business, Huntington looked no further than his own family. In 1873 he married Mary Alice Prentice, the sister of Collis Huntington's adopted daughter. They divorced in 1906 and seven years later, Huntington married Arabella Duval Huntington, uncle Collis' widow. It was Arabella who developed the extensive botanical gardens on the grounds of the Huntington Library. Huntington devoted the last years of his life to his priceless library of rare books and art. He died on May 23, 1927 in Philadelphia. Upon his death, his massive library was opened to the public." -- unknown author. (not found on the back of photoprint)
Type
image
Format
2 photographs : glass photonegative, photoprint, b&w 21 x 26 cm., 13 x 11 cm. glass plate negatives photographic prints photographs
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