Stories from the Library: The Mirror of the Moon

Name: Stories from the Library: The Mirror of the Moon | The Huntington
Start: Sat, Jun 27 - Mon, Nov 30 2026
Location: The Huntington

Exhibitions

Follow surprising threads across centuries that show how artists, scientists, writers, and dreamers have traced their ideas onto the lunar surface and discover how the moon is a mirror of humanity.

From Galileo Galilei’s Sidereus nuncius (Starry Messenger), the 1610 publication that recorded his telescopic observations of lunar craters and mountains, to Octavia E. Butler’s 1969 notebook documenting the Apollo 11 moon landing, this exhibition brings together materials that show how the moon shaped daily life before modern astronomy, inspired lunar imagination in literature and speculative thought, and documented lunar exploration through photography.

A book opened to two drawings of a moon on the left and text on the right.

A film still from the Apollo 17 moon landing shows a man in a space suit looking at a large rock formation on the surface of the moon.

A black and white photo of the moon in partial sunlight.

A black-and-white drawing of "The Saturn V" rocket describing each section of the vehicle.

A black-and white-poster with a close-up photo of the moon and its craters. Small text appears above and below the image.

A 17th century page of notes with drawings of what looks like a planet and moons.

Galileo Galilei, Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger), 1610. Printed book. The Carnegie Institution of Washington Collection at the Huntington Library. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Eugene A. Cernan, NASA, Moonwalk (film), Apollo 17. Astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt standing beside a massive boulder at Station 6 in the Taurus-Littrow Valley, 1972. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Galileo Spacecraft, NASA/JPL, Moon, North Pole Mosaic, Dec. 7, 1992. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Saturn V: America’s Moon Rocket Huntsville, Alabama, ca. 1967. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Observatoire de Paris, Executed by Maurice Loewy and Pierre Puiseux, Atlas photographique de la lune (Photographic atlas of the moon), 1896–1910. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

George Gilden, A Meteorological Dyary and Prognostication for This Present Yeare of our Lord, 1609-1620. Handwritten manuscript. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

About Stories from the Library

The “Stories from the Library” exhibition series celebrates The Huntington’s world-class Library collections by presenting rare archival materials through new and unexpected thematic lenses.

Future iterations will explore such topics as early science and medicine, international relations, and reflections on mortality. The series will continue through 2029, coinciding with the transformation of The Huntington’s Library/Art Building.

Generous support for the Stories from the Library exhibition series is provided by the Robert F. Erburu Exhibition Endowment. Additional support is provided by The Neilan Foundation, the Steinmetz Foundation, Laura and Carlton Seaver, and the John Brockway Huntington Foundation.

Stories from the Library: The Mirror of the Moon

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