Huntington Announces Fund Drive

With a goal of $13.5 million and $5 million of that already in hand, the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens has announced a fund-raising campaign.

Monies raised will be used to augment Henry E. Huntington’s original endowment for the sumptuous cultural center in San Marino.

Gifts already received include $1.5 million from the J. Paul Getty Trust to be used for programs in research and education; $800,000 from the Times Mirror Foundation to endow a chair for a distinguished scholar of American civilization, and “a major gift” of an undisclosed amount from Mr. and Mrs. R. Stanton Avery.

Railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington generously endowed the library, galleries and gardens in 1927, and specified that services be provided free of charge. His endowment served the institution well until about 1970, when inflation and growth forced the cultural center to seek additional funding.

The current endowment covers “somewhat more than half” of annual operating costs, according to Robert F. Erburu, a Huntington trustee and president and chief executive officer of Times Mirror Co. Erburu and fellow trustee R. Stanton Avery will head the two-year campaign.

Two major buildings have been added to the 207-acre complex since 1980. The newest facility at the Huntington is the Virginia Steele Scott Gallery, which was built to house the Scott collection of American art and to widen the scope of the predominantly English art collection.