Wall St. Just as Unsure as Economy

Steven S. Koblick hasn’t been president of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens for even one full day yet. But his memories of the venerable San Marino institution go way back. What’s more, they still ring true.

On his first visit, he thought he had died and gone to a European country estate. “I felt that the Huntingtons had invited us onto their property,” Koblick said, recalling a family outing in the late ‘60s, when he was teaching European history at the Claremont Colleges. “We had small kids, and there was no sign telling us not to walk on the grass, so we just turned them loose. It was a very special place. The closer I looked, the more I realized there are things here that I couldn’t have imagined. That sense of discovery is what excited me.”

As lord of the manor that welcomed him more than 30 years ago, Koblick--who formally takes over at the Huntington today--is settling into the president’s stately house with his wife, Kerstin, an art historian and urban planner. Built in 1916 as a Huntington family residence near the gallery, the house was moved to the northwest corner of the estate in 1930 and two wings were added.

The rarefied environment and the challenges of his new position are “something that it’s hard even to dream about,” Koblick said. “I can’t begin to explain how excited I feel. I am a scholar, and I really enjoy the process of doing research and writing. For me to be able to foster the opportunity for others to do that--the scholars who use the library, the art collections and the gardens--I can’t imagine a more exciting way to contribute to my own profession.”

His new job is also “an extraordinary educational opportunity,” he said. “I didn’t come knowing all the things I need to know. What draws people to the Huntington is the fact that no matter who you are or what your education is, you are going to learn more here.”

That means a great deal to Koblick, 60, who majored in history and Scandinavian languages and literature at UC Berkeley, earned a master of arts degree in international relations from the University of Stockholm and received a PhD in European history from Northwestern University. He is the author of “The Stones Cry Out: Sweden’s Response to Persecution of the Jews, 1933-1945,” along with other books and publications

Koblick began teaching at UC Riverside in 1967, moved to Claremont in 1968 and stayed for 24 years. He taught European history at Pomona College and the Claremont Graduate School (now Claremont Graduate University) during most of that period and served as dean of faculty at Scripps College from 1989 to 1992.

For the past nine years he has been president of Reed College in Portland, Ore. He resigned that position to succeed Huntington President Robert A. Skotheim, who recently retired. Now he is taking charge of a unique institution that combines one of the nation’s largest independent research centers for the humanities with major collections of British and American art and extensive gardens. “There is nothing quite like it in the world,” he said.

Another Foray to the Museum

He tells a story of another distant foray to the museum, this time when he arranged a behind-the-scenes tour for a leading British historian, Keith Thomas. At the end of the day, he asked his guest what he thought of the collections. “I think you stole everything that wasn’t nailed down,” Thomas said.

Koblick cheerfully agrees. In his opinion, it’s a very good thing that the Huntington has been such a voracious collector. “A lot of this material would have been destroyed if we didn’t have it,” he said.

Koblick comes on board at the Huntington after an unprecedented period of growth at the institution. He and his board define the president’s role now as a consolidator of that change. Founded in 1919 by developer Henry Edwards Huntington, who died in 1927, the Huntington occupies a 207-acre estate. Its mission has always been first to serve scholars and second to serve the public.

During Skotheim’s 13-year tenure, the Huntington was transformed and invigorated by major efforts to build its chronically inadequate financial base and broaden its audience. The endowment increased from $62 million to $160 million; membership, which stands at about 19,000, grew nearly sixfold; and the volunteer corps nearly doubled, to 900.

At the same time, the library and research center, art collections and gardens all expanded and pushed into new territory. The library has acquired an enormous collection of works by William Morris, a British artist and designer known as the father of the Arts and Crafts movement, among many other additions to its collection.

Growing Collection of American Art

The 17-year-old Virginia Steele Scott Gallery has given the Huntington a space for its relatively new but constantly growing collection of American art. The Marylou and George Boone Gallery, which opened last year in a renovated carriage house, has added a venue for temporary exhibitions, including “Lure of the West: Treasures From the Smithsonian American Art Museum,” which opens Sept. 13 and runs through Dec. 16.

Meanwhile, the Huntington’s new Botanical Research and Education Complex is under construction. The $35-million project, which includes teaching labs, demonstration gardens and a botanical conservatory, is expected to open in 2003.

Koblick’s job is to keep up the momentum without losing sight of the Huntington’s fundamental mission. And it’s bound to be a daunting balancing act. On the one hand, it’s important to expand the Huntington’s reach into the community and make its resources better known, particularly as it adds new programs. On the other, the buildings and grounds are too fragile to host vast crowds at any one time. There won’t be any blockbuster shows, but there will be a variety of efforts to provide meaningful experiences for a growing audience, he said.

Some of the projects on Koblick’s mind involve K-12 education. In the new botanical center, for example, teachers who are afraid of science might get over their fears and help their students understand the scientific world through plants, he said.

At the library, some of the rare books might provide material for lively history lessons that reach students online and prepare them to see the original objects. “I’m not coming here with a vision that is different,” Koblick said. “My goals are to preserve and enrich the Huntington’s traditions. I want to ensure that we carry out the tasks and programmatic opportunities that already exist.”

Naturally, that takes money.

“As we expanded in the 1990s, we pushed the borders of what the Huntington does,” he said. “The opportunities we have right now are greater than our financial capacity to carry them out. One of my short-term tasks and something that is of great concern to the trustees and overseers is to create a stronger financial situation. We have made remarkable progress, but a lot of the money raised was seed money. It was used to develop plans that are not yet realized or fully funded.”

To that end, Koblick has set a goal of doubling, if not tripling, the $160-million endowment in the next 10 years. He also hopes to woo more corporate sponsors, such as Wells Fargo, which is underwriting admission-free days in September and October and publicizing the program. Opportunities to match sponsors with programs that appeal to them are plentiful because “we don’t have a single face,” he said.

The Huntington’s scholars serve the public by interpreting culture and history, Koblick said, but persuading a broad audience that the Huntington is relevant to them can be a challenge.

One obstacle is the perception that the Huntington is a Pasadena or San Marino enclave. “Many people on the Westside, in the South Bay and in Orange County haven’t been involved with it,” he said. Another is its size and scope.

“The Huntington is a lot like the Louvre or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There is too much here. You can’t walk onto this property and possibly absorb it in a day. There are 14,000 rare plants here,” he said. Not to mention 3 million manuscripts, 500,000 rare books and 30,000 artworks. One thing most people don’t know about the Huntington is that one can go there to learn about Spanish missions and Native Americans as well as English gentlemen. UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, the California State Library and the Huntington are the three top repositories of historical materials on California and the West, he said.

Looking to Serve Various Ethnic Groups

That fact resonates with Koblick, who has returned to a region that he came to know very well after growing up and getting his formal education elsewhere. “As a native of Sacramento and the son of native San Franciscans, I was raised with all the prejudices Northern Californians have about Southern California, but I fell in love with it,” he said. “I think Southern California is the most exciting region in the United States, arguably in the world.”

“It’s a place of great ethnicity,” he added. “There are fabulous immigrant groups that come here bringing their own culture and an enormous desire to achieve and succeed. They opt for the unsafe instead of what they know. The question, of course, is how we at the Huntington serve those different groups as they evolve and change.

“Initially they may have very little interest in the Huntington, but as they develop their own roots in the community, they are going to be attracted to the parts that are appropriate to them. It may be the art, the library or the gardens. It’s very hard for us to know, but I think our sensitivities will be shaped by these ethnic groups as they begin to have an impact on our culture.

“That was part of the lure of coming back to Southern California,” he said. “I had a fabulous run at Reed. Oregon was wonderful. It’s a beautiful place and the people are very nice. But this is dynamic.”