A Huntington Across the Pond

Last Fall, PPH received a substantial collection of artifacts from the collection of Constant Huntington (1876-1962). Through a generous donation by Katharine Ohno, nine boxes were shipped all the way from London! It was only this Summer that the intern team was able to finally investigate the contents. The most immediately striking object among the countless letters and photographs was, of course, this larger than life size bust of Constant himself. The bust, cast in bronze and mounted on a simple wooden pedestal was sculpted by a well known German-Jewish artist named Kurt Harald Isentein. In addition to Constant, Isenstein sculpted many prominent figures of his time, including Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. 

Though most of the Porter-Phelps-Huntington story takes place in New England, many family members have moved to other parts of the country (and even the world) at some point during their lives. Constant Huntington, older brother of PPH Museum founder James Lincoln Huntington, was one such family member. Though Constant grew up spending his summers at Forty Acres with his family, his adult life would take him far from Hadley.  After graduating Harvard, he moved to London in 1905 to head the British branch of G.P. Putnam’s Sons Publishing. In 1916, he married popular writer and fellow American expat, Gladys Parrish. In 1922, they would have their first and only child, Alfreda Huntington. 

Constant and Gladys

Items in the collection show that Constant and his family lived a life of travel and leisure; photo albums are filled with vacation photos throughout Europe and Gladys’ diaries detail relaxing lunches and teas with her friends several times a week. Also included in the collection are a number of novel and play manuscripts penned by Gladys, testifying to her robust career as a published author. 

Despite living in London, Constant remained involved in the Hadley family home as his brother James worked towards opening the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum in the late 1940s. The family papers held at Amherst College include extensive correspondence between the two brothers regarding the museum. Both Constant and Gladys would remain in London until their deaths in 1959 and 1962, respectively. The Constant Huntington collection is quite large, and our inventory of it has only just started, keep an eye out for more exciting finds in the coming weeks!