News BytesVOICES FROM VERSO, THE BLOG OF THE HUNTINGTON

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The Grace Nicholson Photograph Archive“She seems to have had a naturalness and warmth with people, qualities that are reflected in many of the photographs.”

—The Huntington’s project archivist Suzanne Oatey, referring to Grace Nicholson

This photograph of a Yurok child named Genevieve Brooks, ca. 1910, is one of the thousands taken by Grace Nicholson (1877–1948), a Pasadena-based collector and dealer of Native American and Asian arts and crafts. The finding aid describ-ing the contents of the Nicholson Collection—available at the Online Archive of California—has recently been completed as part of a two-year effort to catalog The Huntington’s photographs of Native Americans.

Read more at huntingtonblogs.org/2014/04/nicholson

Thank You“Like all those who come to The Huntington, I owe an incalculable debt to Mary Robertson, whose interest, expertise, and friendship have smoothed my path.”—Barbara Donagan, in the acknowledgments of her book War in England, 1642–1649

In February, scholars gathered for a symposium in honor of Mary Robertson (pictured), the former William A. Moffett Curator of British Historical Manuscripts, who retired last August after 42 years on staff. In his opening remarks, Research Director Steve Hindle paid tribute to Robertson by reading the acknowledgments of many pub-lished books, including Barbara Donagan’s 2008 volume on the English civil war.

Read more at huntingtonblogs.org/2014/05/robertson

Couplets Abound“Freely strolling in springtime beyond the painted hallsAmong plum blossoms, by shady willows, fragrances abound.”—From Tang Xianzu’s Mudanting (The Peony Pavilion), inscribed on two plaques attached to columns of the new Clear and Transcendent pavilion of The Huntington’s Chinese Garden

“Wind ruffles the water, scattering the spots of light.Sun warms the earth, coaxing beauty from the deep.”—High school participant on a school tour of the Chinese Garden

Read more at huntingtonblogs.org/2014/02/coaxing-beauty

Zenobia in Squint“Even her fingers are exquisite!”—The Huntington on Facebook, linking to the Weekly Squint on Tumblr

If you are among the 13,000 followers of The Huntington on Tumblr, then you have already come to anticipate the posting of our “Squint” every Thursday. Here is a closer look at Zenobia in Chains. The Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art will expand in July.

Follow us at huntingtonlibrary.tumblr.com

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Cataloging a manuscript collection is a bit like opening Pandora’s Box. You always find more than you bargained for. I recently completed cataloging the

papers of science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, a journey both thrilling and frightening. Butler was the first black woman to gain prominence in a genre that flirts with the supernatural. Honored with both Hugo and Nebula awards, Butler was also the first science fiction author to be awarded a MacArthur “Genius Grant.” Her novel Kindred

was selected for Pasadena’s 2006 One City, One Story program, but she passed away suddenly just weeks before her scheduled appearance. Butler’s characters are complex, never fully good or fully evil. They inhabit stories that weave together themes of race, gender, sex, religion, power, and humanity. “No entertainment on Earth

can match a good story compellingly told,” Butler wrote. Through the trials of strong and complicated characters, these stories ultimately reveal truths about us. Butler’s papers offer a window into her examination of these truths, her creative process, and her everyday life.

Collections come in many shapes and sizes, and in many states of disarray. Archivists like myself arrange and describe the contents so that scholars can find materials that fit their research. Where little or no original order exists, I impose one, often dividing materials into series such as correspon-dence, manuscripts, photographs, and ephemera. I place everything in acid-free folders and boxes, label them, and assign numbers for easy retrieval. Next I create a finding aid—an inventory of the materials supplemented with information such as

Beyond CategoryUNPACKING OCTAVIA E. BUTLER

By Natalie Russell

Above: Octavia E. Butler near Mt. Shuksan, in Washington state, 2001. Photographer unknown. Right: The Butler papers include a variety of materials, including autograph notes, photographs, and ephemera.

Butler was also the first science fiction author to be awarded a MacArthur “Genius Grant.”

accessions