Stories from the Library: Damaged Goods

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, Oxford Road 1151, 91108, San Marino

June 27, 2026 – November 30, 2026

See how damaged objects, visible mistakes, and other imperfections reveal how physical traces can make library materials more compelling, beautiful, and revealing. Featured objects include an ink-stained draft of Benjamin Franklin’s manuscript of his autobiography, an Edo-period arithmetic guide whose pages were bored through by bookworms, and a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, made weeks before his assassination, showing cracks formed by thermal pressure. “Damaged Goods,” on view in the Large Library on the Huntington Art Gallery’s first floor, brings together collection materials marked by natural processes, human error, and intentional acts of censorship.