Is Lauterjung

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

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

The Senses and Medical Humanities A one-day workshop exploring sensory studies and medical humanities through short talks, creative activities, and networking.

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...

a cat wearing glasses is sitting on top of an open book on a table . ALT: a cat wearing glasses is sitting on top of an open book on a table .

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

Empires, Plants & Gardening: Kew in Jamaica The second talk in our series exploring the influence of political and economic power on garden-making

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

Call for Papers 2026 Annual Conference of the Archives and Records Association (UK & Ireland)

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

No, Grok hasn’t paywalled its deepfake image feature X’s sexual deepfake machine is still running, despite Grok saying otherwise.

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

What Renaissance readers left behind in haircare books New biochemical techniques offer unmatched insight into early modern medicine, as traces of plants, animals and even human waste have been sampled from pages.

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

Graduate Trainee Archivist One-year fixed term contract, full-time Trinity College Library wishes to appoint an enthusiastic Graduate Trainee Archivist for one year from September 2026. The post offers an ideal opportunity to g...

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

📆 If you're around (online) this Wednesday (10th Dec) at 5pm GMT, why not join @shabnambalouch.bsky.social and me for a talk about the Persian materials in our Archive collections? You may even see some things currently not on display 🤫

Register here: www.bips.ac.uk/event/beyond...

Poster for an exhibition at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, titled 'Persia Reimagined: From Herbarium to Heritage'. The exhibition dates 30 September 2025 to 21 January 2026. The text is laid over a collage of archive materials: a coloured illustration of a yellow-flowered Rosa persica, yellow and orange Persian lime and typewritten text.

Do we have archives relating to your history? Probably! Our archive reflects global histories & is open to all. Conservator Shabnam Balouch has helped uncover our Persian archive, and you can find out more at an upcoming talk & our free public workshops in January! #EYAYourArchives #KewLA

Various materials layered on top of each other so that corners and sections of pages are obscured. On the bottom is newsletter article opened on a two-page spread with a light green border and the title in the centre reads ‘The Millenium Seed Bank Project’. Underneath the title, two images are fully visible – on the left hand side, a person collecting seeds in Cumbria and to the right, a model version of the ‘Wellcome Trust Millennium Building’. Materials on top of the article from left to right are: section of a report on the Kew Seed Bank; a leaflet with a cream background and image of a small plant titled ‘Your Opportunity to Sponsor a Millennium Seed Bank Tree’; a leaflet with a logo of a plant with a green steam, yellow petals and a green globe in the centre reading ‘millennium seed bank appeal kew’ with a photograph of Sir David Attenborough outside the Palm House to the right. Article - MAFF Bulletin, Crown Copyright.

For #EYAAnniversaries, we delved into collections on our Millennium Seed Bank, which opened at Wakehurst 25 years ago. Among the reports & articles on the development of one of the world’s largest seed banks, we discovered publicity materials featuring none other than Sir David Attenborough! #KewLA

We hosted these workshops a couple of weeks ago and they were such a fantastic experience! Archives should be all about public engagement and including everyone 🌷 #EYAInclusion

Numerous paper registered files stored vertically on five horizontal white shelves.

For #EYADigital, we’re looking back at how Kew managed its corporate records - from filing paper documents to reviewing which should be archived or securely destroyed. While some paper files remain, we now support staff in managing records effectively in a primarily digital environment. #KewLA

A letter which at the top includes a drawing in ink and the number ‘151’ printed and written in the top left corner. The drawing depicts from left to right: a pot cooking with steam rising from it; a Bhotea mastiff dog writing a note using a quill; a tent with a person sat at a table inside. There are mountains drawn in the background. Underneath, the letter notes that it was sent from Darjeeling on April 2. The contents of the letter discuss Joseph Hooker’s Bhotea mastiffs – Bruno and puppy Kinchin. It mentions that Kinchin is cleaned daily with mustard oil and woods ashes, he steals cheese from Joseph Hooker’s dinner and that Kinchin learnt English was being taught how to write. Ref: JDH/1/10, ff.151

Did you know botanist Sir Joseph Hooker travelled with two Bhotea mastiff dogs? Today’s featured image for #ExploreYourArchive Week #EYAPets is a playful drawing from his letters, showing Kinchin the dog being ‘taught’ to write.

Two typewritten documents, situated in the centre and left-hand side, layered on top of a handwritten logbook, situated on the right-hand side.

For #EYASilence, we thought it fitting to look back at a time in which the Gardens had to be silent. This instruction sheet, issued during the Blitz in WWII, and an air raid logbook detail how the frequency of bombing raids led to the regular suppression of daily operations. #KewLA