We are pleased to announce the latest cohort of SHAPE Involve and Engage awardees, who will be working with various partner organisations in the GLAM sector to help bring the humanities and social sciences closer to the public. Read more about the projects here: https://bit.ly/4suMO75
Four library staff members stand in front of bookshelves.
We're hiring 3 Graduate Trainees! You’ll need enthusiasm, positivity, and customer skills to deliver an exceptional service to our members.
📜 Read our Graduate Trainee blog: https://bit.ly/3Kk7QkF
📆 Deadline 15 March 2026
ℹ️ Job info and apply online: https://bit.ly/4r7WfrG
#LibraryJobs #LISJobs
Photograph of a black and white line drawing depicting two flowers, leaves and the stem of a rose plant. Illustrations of plant parts (labelled with a letter relating to a key, and their magnification) are drawn around the outer edge of the plate. In the lower left corner can be seen two drawings of the magnified leaf surface while a cross section of the flower is shown in the lower right corner. Despite being rendered in monochrome the drawing is skillfully shaded to show the shape of the plant.
Botanical illustrator Stella Ross Craig is known for her skilled line drawings such as this Rosa tomentosa from her magnum opus 'Drawings of British Plants' - a series to which she dedicated 25 years. See other examples of her work in Kew's Library display, open Tues-Wed 10.00-4.00, until 21st May.
✨New Blog✨
For our February theme #EYAConnections we have a new blog from @livingrefarchives.bsky.social, exploring the refugee histories within their archive collections and the importance of building connections.
www.exploreyourarchive.org/connecting-r...
#ExploreYourArchive
Black and white line drawing depicting two flowers, leaves and the stem of a rose plant. Illustrations of plant parts (labelled with a letter relating to a key, and their magnification) are drawn around the outer edge of the plate. In the lower left corner can be seen two drawings of the magnified leaf surface while a cross section of the flower is shown in the lower right corner. Despite being rendered in monochrome the drawing is skillfully shaded to show the shape of the plant.
Poster for the exhibition 'Flora, Dissected: The Botanical Illustrations of Stella Ross-Craig, from Britain and Beyond' at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The main focal illustration is a coloured illustration of Banksia. Below the title of the exhibition is: "Visit our display showcasing original material from Kew's Library & Archives.". The date and location info is included on the bottom right under a small map detailing the entrance: "10th February to 21st May 2026. Library & Archives Reading Room. Tuesday and Wednesday (10am-4pm). No booking required. library@kew.org."
🎨Stella Ross-Craig (1906-2006) is known for her skilled line drawings such as this Rosa tomentosa from her work 'Drawings of British Plants' - a series to which she dedicated 25 years! Keen to see other examples of her drawings in Kew's Library display? Details on the display below 👇 #KewLA
Image showing a watercolour of the orchid Vanda concolor depicting the roots, leaves and purple brown flowers of the plant. A flower dissection is shown in the lower right hand corner of the image with its five petals spread out like an exploding star. Text along the upper left of the image reads 'Chinese Plants from the Collection of Sir W.J. Hooker' with text in Chinese characters to the lower right of the image.
This 19th Century watercolour of the Chinese orchid Vanda concolor from Kew's Library is thought to have been illustrated by an unrecorded Chinese artist.
See spectacular examples of live orchids on show as part of our Orchid Festival at Kew: 7 February - 8 March 2026 👉 www.kew.org/kew-gardens/...
Open book with a colour illustration of a bolete on the right-hand page. The description is in Polish.
Black and white illustration of various fungi
Detail of a colour illustration of various insects and cordyceps fungi growing out of them.
Here are some books we came across during a project in the mycology library last week. Our Library and Archives collections do not only cover plants, but also fungi and lichens. Some have very beautiful illustrations. Others (like the cordyceps) are rather gruesome... 🍄🍄🟫🍄🟫 #KewLA
Photograph of an American bison standing beside a fence at the London Zoo in 1906.
The research guide on Environmental History that I wrote for The National Archives, UK is now live! Includes research advice and resources on colonial environments, pollution, agriculture, and animal histories.
Available here: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-yo...
#envhist #envhum
![A section of a notebook, rest on foam supports. The page is titled ‘7. Uninvited guests at 4 Willow Cottages, Kew, 1892-1915’. Beneath this are two columns, listing the names of plants found at the property: datura stramonium; Amaranthus retroflexus; Oxalis corniculata rubia; Oenothera lamarckiana; [?] roseum; Lychnis alba; Silene latifolia; Chenopodium rubrum; Senebiera didyma; Senebiera coronopus; Melilotus indicus (1917); Euphorbia virgata; Sisyrinchium angustifolium; Papaver somniferum; Galinsoga parviflora; Epilobium hirsutum; Ornithopus perpusillus; S.noctiflora; Althaca rosea](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6h2nzrepsboow5qu42xtebgn/bafkreict5jgdanqtbqtq532vgbhsefubcc3fq4k4uxsf723uum3k4dwefi@jpeg)
A section of a notebook, rest on foam supports. The page is titled ‘7. Uninvited guests at 4 Willow Cottages, Kew, 1892-1915’. Beneath this are two columns, listing the names of plants found at the property: datura stramonium; Amaranthus retroflexus; Oxalis corniculata rubia; Oenothera lamarckiana; [?] roseum; Lychnis alba; Silene latifolia; Chenopodium rubrum; Senebiera didyma; Senebiera coronopus; Melilotus indicus (1917); Euphorbia virgata; Sisyrinchium angustifolium; Papaver somniferum; Galinsoga parviflora; Epilobium hirsutum; Ornithopus perpusillus; S.noctiflora; Althaca rosea
Amongst the notes of 19th century horticulturalist & botanist John Fraser, we spotted this list of unwelcome visitors to a property in Kew! John's ‘uninvited guests’ were botanical rather than human, including species such as thornapple and gallant soldier. How many can you recognise? #KewLA
I'm delighted to share details of the first of two workshops I'm hosting this year on The Senses and Medical Humanities. The first workshop will take place in Durham on 24 February. Spaces are limited, so reserve yours now.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-senses...
I've been lazy regarding reading articles/books/etc. for keeping up with archive/records management matters the last few years.
Are anyone able to share recent reading lists from the archive courses? Or any recommendations on articles regarded as essential reading for the modern archivist?
🚨Seeking blogs for Explore Your Archive - if you or anyone you know would like to write about their collections for one of these themes, please do get in touch! We're always looking for more blogs to post: www.exploreyourarchive.org/the-stories-...
A great way to get your collections out there 📜
Four sheets of paper, roughly A6-sized, pasted onto a larger page. The individual smaller pages are handwritten and contain notes in French, Greek, and Latin. They are presumably notes or correspondence on specific specimens and plants collected by or for Gay.
🗺️What a multi-lingual collection: Jacques Gay was a botanist and collector from Switzerland and our Archives hold over 35 volumes of his manuscripts. He wrote mainly in French, although Latin and even Greek found its way into his writing as well. Any polyglots able to translate? #KewLA
I'll be talking about the Hope Botanic Gardens in Jamaica on 27th Jan, using records from the colonial archives at Kew Gardens 🌴
Signup here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/empires-pl...
Graphic announcing the themes for EYA 2026 in both English and Irish. White text on a green background. The themes are: January is #EYADustbusters. February is #EYAConnections / Naisc. March is #EYAWildlife / Fiadhúlra. April is #EYACrime / Coir. May is #EEYAHandwriting / Lámhscríbhneoireacht. June is #EYAColourful / lldaite. July is #EYAArchitecture / Ailtireacht. August is #EYASurprise / lontas. September is #EYAErased / Scriosta. October is #EYAFolklore / Béaloideas. November is #EYAMemories / Cuimhní. December is #EYAFestiveTraditions / Traidisiúin Fhéile.
💫 New themes! 💫
We’re very excited to announce the new monthly themes for 2026 - we can’t wait to see what you explore in your archives this year!
#ExploreYourArchives
The portal for submitting a paper for our call for papers for ARA Conference 2026 is now open.
The theme this year is 'Authenticity'
All presentations in person in Glasgow 5-7 August.
Go to: openingdoors-ara2026.eventsair.site/call-for-pap... for full details
Very proud to have worked with @edwinrose.bsky.social and our other partners in New Zealand and at Cambridge on this. Even happier to see the fruits of Sydney Parkinson’s skill and efforts in glorious high resolution detail nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44... #botanicalart #collaboration
A colour photograph showing the restored interior of the Marianne North Gallery at Kew. The photograph shows the view from inside the rear gallery looking ahead towards the entrance doors through which streams light which reflects on the brown, black and orange tiles of the Gallery floor. Different woods can be seen set running around the lower panels of the Gallery walls above which runs a wooden rail set with intermittent labels describing the woods and paintings which are set in a colourful jigsaw fashion from mid height to high up on the wall.
We're joining the Heritage Fund UK in celebrating #HeritageTreasures!
Kew's Marianne North Gallery was completed in 1882, with much needed restoration work done on the Gallery and its paintings in 2008. The restoration was made possible in part with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund 🎨🖌️
A Bluesky challenge!
We've got so many great heritage/GLAM accounts here now, that some are flying under the radar
From national organisations to niche collections, these active accounts are all (at time of posting) under 500 followers-lowest at 9-how many can we get over 500?
go.bsky.app/U16Nwsw
In case you've seen the story about “grok now only generates images for paid users”, it's untrue. Apparently everyone just reported it because… it was what grok told them 🤦🏼
www.theverge.com/news/859309/...
Yes, indeed the other Kew, the slightly more planty one 🌻🌳!
🌷For anyone in the area and a couple of hours to spare next Thursday (15th Jan), why not sign up to one of our art workshops all around the Persian materials in our archive?
Sign up for the morning slot here: forms.office.com/e/GKeEBrVbip
and the afternoon slot here: forms.office.com/e/NbyM9x4WM8
If you ever wondered what biochemical traces of past users of medical recipes may tell us about early modern haircare, see @uk.theconversation.com's discussion of our @historians.org article:
doi.org/10.64628/AB....
Research supported by @thejohnrylands.bsky.social & @britishacademy.bsky.social
We've all mislaid our keys, but this one made it to the other side of the world! The Library and Archives were delighted when Adelaide Botanic Garden recently arranged for donation of a key that was previously owned by Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck - granddaughter of King George III #KewLA
Job Opportunity! We're looking for a Graduate Trainee Archivist.
#archives
www.trin.cam.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...
Coloured illustration of Ilex aquifolium (Holly). Small red berries are at the bottom of a stem with long green leaves with ragged and sharp edges pointing outwards from the stem. A smaller illustration in the bottom right corner shows the plant in pink, in its flowering stage.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from our research & collections teams here at Kew! We're looking forward to sharing more stories and highlights with you in 2026 🎄
Beautiful illustration below from our LAA team #KewLA 👇
Coloured illustration of a Rosa persica (Persian rose). The slightly yellowed page shows stem, leaves, two yellow flowers and one in the process of flowering. Two yellow petals are shown dropping at the bottom.
🌺If you're free on 15th January and would like to find out more about our Persian collections, why not sign up for one of our art workshops? More info in the booking links below 👇#KewLA
Morning slot: https://ow.ly/x0cl50XMcGy
Afternoon slot: https://ow.ly/IvwE50XMcGz
🌸If you're free on 15th January, why not sign up for one of our art workshops relating to our Persian collections? We ran some with Persian communities in November and they were such a great experience!
These workshops are open for all but will be the same content as the last ones (but shorter!). 🌷
This was such a cool find! Lots more to dig into and research 🎶🎻
In January, we're running 2 public workshops. If you're interested, please email archives@kew.org. They are funded by the fabulous British Institute of Persian Studies. #PersianHistory #Archives #KewLA
