Pasadena Law Firm Sponsors The Huntington’s Major Exhibition on American Land and Identity

When The Huntington opens “This Land Is…” this summer, visitors will find 1776 printings of the Declaration of Independence, Woody Guthrie’s guitar, and a survey of Mount Vernon in George Washington’s own hand. They will also find Pasadena’s fingerprints on it.

Hahn & Hahn LLP, the oldest law firm in Pasadena — founded in 1899 by two brothers at a Colorado Boulevard address it still occupies — announced Monday it is sponsoring The Huntington’s major new exhibition, which opens June 14 in San Marino. According to a press release from Hahn & Hahn, the firm is backing the show because of its identity as a Pasadena-based institution with longstanding ties to the region’s cultural life.

The exhibition, “This Land Is…,” is timed to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and runs through January 11, 2027. Mounted in The Huntington’s MaryLou and George Boone Gallery, it draws on the institution’s library, art, and botanical collections to trace how land has shaped American life — from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from before the founding to the 21st century. The show’s themes include mapping and ecology, opportunity and dispossession, and preservation and repair.

Highlights include rare annotated 1776 printings of the Declaration of Independence and a 1936 guitar owned by Woody Guthrie and inscribed “This Machine Kills Fascists,” on loan from the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. The exhibition’s title references Guthrie’s iconic song “This Land Is Your Land…”

The ellipsis, according to Huntington President Karen R. Lawrence, is deliberate.

“‘This Land Is…’ draws on the breadth of our collections to explore the centrality of land as both common and contested ground,” Lawrence said in a statement on The Huntington’s website. “The ellipsis in the title is intentional — it reminds us that the story is unfinished, and that we each have a role in shaping what comes next.”

The exhibition is the anchor piece of The Huntington’s multiyear “This Land Is…” initiative, subtitled “Reflections for America at 250,” which began in fall 2025 and continues through 2027. The initiative also includes gallery reinterpretations, a renovated garden space called Oak Meadow set to open in spring 2026, and a companion book distributed by the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Hahn & Hahn LLP, which is located at 301 East Colorado Boulevard, was founded by brothers Edwin F. Hahn and Benjamin W. Hahn. The firm is a certified Women Owned Business Enterprise and has provided legal counsel to Southern California businesses, institutions and individuals for more than 125 years.