SAN MARINO, CA.- Behind every engrossing story or poem is a writer whose own life story deepens the meaning of her words. “From Brontë to Butler” draws primarily from The Huntington’s extensive literary archives to illuminate the private lives, creative processes, and personal identities of women writers whose work spans two centuries.

Anchored by Charlotte Brontë and Octavia E. Butler as chronological bookends, the exhibition brings together journals, letters, photographs, and personal items that bridge time, geography, and social context. Whether exploring family and marriage, work and gender roles, or the city of Los Angeles itself, the exhibition reveals common threads that connect individual experiences across generations.

Among the highlights is Octavia E. Butler’s handwritten note from Nov. 7, 1978, in which she reflects on her determination to become a better speaker as well as writer.

“Butler was driven to connect with her readers through speculative fiction, and that connection required a deep commitment to her craft,” said Sarah Francis, assistant curator of literary collections at The Huntington. “Her nearly 200 notebooks at The Huntington are full of entries that make plain both her desire to reach others and the careful work underlying that desire.”

The exhibition also features Charlotte Brontë’s letters to her close friend Ellen Nussey, offering glimpses into the novelist’s concern for her ailing sister Anne in the wake of the recent deaths of her sister Emily and brother Bramwell. Through her correspondence, Brontë’s persistence in the face of grief emerges vividly.

Other objects on view include photographs of Los Angeles and its residents by Eve Babitz, the novelist and essayist known for chronicling the city’s cultural life, and a signature hat of Patt Morrison, the longtime Los Angeles Times columnist and author. Personal belongings represent these women who observed and wrote about the worlds around them.

The Huntington holds over one hundred Charlotte Brontë letters plus several of her verse and prose manuscripts, and the Octavia E. Butler papers—more than 8,000 items of manuscripts, diaries, research materials, and correspondence—which underpin the “From Brontë to Butler” exhibition. The Library also houses the Eve Babitz archive, which includes the author-artist’s journals, letters, photographs, and artwork, informing the featured objects drawn from Los Angeles cultural life.