Another week, another beautiful item spotted in our Reading Room at Kew! These incredible drawings of 'submersed algae' are from Sir William Hooker's collection (safely stored within our Archives). Check out the incredible detail in each line 👇 #KewLA

Call for applications: Endangered Archives Programme eap.bl.uk/applicants

As the Last Night of the Proms approaches, we'd like to introduce you to the Trumpet Tree (Cecropia peltata L.) 🎺 Native to tropical South America, its hollow branches have been used to craft musical instruments. This original painting by Marianne North captures a sloth feeding on said tree! #KewLA

Reflecting on our first ARA conference session, our speakers wanted to share a few words: "Thank you very much to ARA for the opportunity to speak and to introduce the International Group to the wider sector. It was great to see so many people in the room and on a Friday afternoon at that!"

A small good thing, also beautiful. www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/s...

🚨Come and join our team! A great opportunity to open up colonial collections and do community engagement and outreach work! Full-time fixed term (12 months) Salary: £32.9k - £34.5k Closing date: 21/09/2025

Try to imagine life in 2641. This is why archives, museums and libraries are AMAZING. End.

If you've made it this far through #ARA2025 do join us after lunch for an introduction to our International Group, what we do and hope to do, and what's coming up next for us! 🌍

Our team recently came across these beautiful drawings of wild flowers in Libya. They were made by Jocelyn Russell in 1940s. Her Mechanised Transport Corps was stationed in North Africa during WWII and it was during this time that she made illustrations of the plants she saw. #KewLA #Wildflowers

First morning done at #ARA2025 and lots to reflect on in terms of what inclusion means, how we can challenge existing systems and practices, and how best to develop skills in the workplace 🥸

For this month’s #ExploreYourArchive theme #EYAHumour, we found the 1976 journal of the ‘Gilbert and Succulent Society’ in our Kewensia ephemeral collections. Seemingly only ‘published’ once, it contains humorous poems and articles – we enjoyed this one about a cactus’s haircare routine. #KewLA

We’re thrilled to be a recipient of the latest Archives Revealed grant to catalogue & make accessible the personal papers of individuals in our collections! 🎉 This will help us uncover the hidden voices of women, Indigenous peoples & names less commonly associated with botany 🌱 👉 ow.ly/5TTb50WI3tj

Don't miss our session, "Forming International Connections," if you're attending the 2025 ARA Annual Conference! We will showcase our progress since launching, share stories from members across the globe, and invite new collaborations. Conference details: openingdoors.eventsair.com/ara2025/

A great line up and interesting topic 🌍

With the Palm House set for restoration in 2027, we dipped into the archives to see how our iconic glasshouse has been cared for over time. One surprising find? The coronation arches from the Mall in 1953 were considered for a past restoration! Missed the announcement? 👉 www.kew.org/kew-gardens/...

Many friendships have been made at Kew Gardens! To celebrate #InternationalFriendshipDay here is an image of our female gardeners during WWII, sharing a hot drink together in their break from gardening duties! #KewLA

Two new #DigitalHistory #MedicalHistory projects: The People's Dispensary Case Notes from the early years of the Edinburgh Public Dispensary www.rcpe.ac.uk/peoplesdispe... Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries Enhancing the discoverabilityof medieval medical recipes www.lib.cam.ac.uk/curiouscures

At this time of the year sometimes there is nothing better than enjoying a vanilla ice cream. This illustration from Kew's Library shows an image of Vanilla planifolia from Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen 1887 featuring pod and flowers #KewLA #Vanilla #BotanicalIllustration

The contrast could not be more stark.

On #WorldEmojiDay you wouldn't usually think of botanical collections, but our Archives hold some fantastic small symbols. For example, the Wardian case was basically a small greenhouse for plant transportation. Two cases were sent to Ceylon [Sri Lanka] and were sketched in Kew's logs 👇 #KewLA

Anyone for tennis? This original illustration for Curtis's Botanical Magazine (1814) shows Gomphocarpus fruticosus also known as the tennis ball bush in honour of its rounded green fruits. #KewLA #BotanicalIllustration #tennis

DYK: Young sunflowers don’t just bask in the sun - they follow it 🌞 This exquisite illustration of Helianthus annuus by an unrecorded Indian artist is held in our Library & Archives and dates from around 1800 👉 www.kew.org/plants/sunfl... #KewLA #Sunflower #BotanicalIllustration

SCA are hosting a workshop as part of ‘Divergent Minds in the Archive’, an EDI Caucus-funded project investigating neurodivergence and archives. Find out more and apply to take part: www.scottisharchives.org.uk/latest/call-...

Join our AGM and hear about what the ARA International Group has been up to this past year! Kirsten Wright's talk about trauma-informed archival practice will very interesting 🌏 Sign up below 👇

On #NationalCleanAirDay we wanted to show sources in our collections that can shed light on past research into air pollution & smog. For example, we have lists of damaged plants dating back to late 19th century, plus letters & press relating to the 1952 smog in London 👇 #KewLA #EnvHist

“A long-lost original print of 1977’s Star Wars was recovered from an archive and screened for a group of cinema aficionados and die-hard fans.” What does the Hollywood Reporter think the BFI Film Archive is? What do they think the archivists there do? If it’s in an archive, it’s not ‘long-lost”

Happy #InternationalArchivesDay! Why not delve deeper into bits of our collections today? 📜 Browse our catalogued items: www2.calmview.co.uk/kew/calmview/ Try reading Sir Joseph Hooker's handwriting: jdhooker.kew.org/p/jdh Find out more about Wardian cases: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtiM... #KewLA

In honour of International Archives Day, join Isabel, one of Kew’s Assistant Archivists! 📖📚 She takes you behind the scenes as she spends her day sorting records, assisting visitors, and showing you the variety of work that comes with the archives 👇 #InternationalArchivesDay

This #NationalVolunteersWeek we're celebrating the incredible contributions our volunteers make to our collections. Here’s Barbara entering geographical info from Curtis's Botanical Magazine into a spreadsheet. The magazine dates to 1787 & we hold most of the illustrations #KewLA

What's going on with Queer As Folklore? *Deep intake of breath* part 1

"benefit claims by households with at least one foreign national" headlines operate the exact same way as "1 in 5 births are to foreign born mothers" do: they hope nobody asks what nationality the father or other household members are

no but this is so annoying because I had to do so much research to try and figure out which services for “AI” transcription and captioning were the kind that are killing the Amazon via plagiarism and which were just the extremely normal stuff we had before which they renamed “AI” for the clicks

A favourite of mine - always fascinating to see what "botanical" collections can reveal about perceptions of language, culture, and society. Some beautiful fables in this one as well 🌻

Are you a neurodivergent researcher who uses archives? We want to hear from you! We will be running our 1st Divergent Minds in the Archive workshop at Imperial War Museum on 4th July, 10-4.15. More info👇🏻. Sign up here lnkd.in/eUFBQg3p. Closing date for applications June 4th #skyhistorians

Our exhibition in the L&A Reading Room is about 'Botanical Revolutions' and introduces Allan Cunningham, one of the world's first professional botanists. It is open Tuesdays-Thursdays (10am-4pm), no booking required, and it is free to visit! #KewLA Find out more: www.kew.org/kew-gardens/...

"Police have been issued guidance on how to search women’s homes for abortion drugs and check their phones for menstrual cycle tracking apps after unexpected pregnancy loss" "...police could bypass legal requirements for a court order to obtain medical records..." observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

📅 TODAY: Last day to register for In Conversation: Around the World in Oral History Practice We’re talking co-curation, community partnership & archival ethics with speakers from around the world. 💻 Online 🕓 4 PM BST 🎟️ £10/£20 🔗 bit.ly/ARAIS-OralHi... #OralHistory #ARAInternational

We have recently added this interesting notebook to our Archive collections, containing medicinal recipes and remedies, for example using balsam copaiba, in both English and Welsh. It was written in 1822 by William Lewis from Cefn Coed in Wales. #KewLA

🌍 Come and check out our new ARA International website and keep an eye out for upcoming training events 👀👇

What does oral history look like around the world? 🌐 In our event, we’ll explore: ✔️ Adapting toolkits to local contexts ✔️ Building community trust ✔️ Consent & shared stewardship ✔️ Co-curation in archives 🗓️ 19 May | 🎟️ £10-£20 | 💻 Online Register now 👉

✨New blog✨ Check out our new blog post for May’s theme #EYAFunandGames from the National Circus and Fairground Archive at the University of Sheffield! 🎡🎠🎪 @uoscollections.bsky.social #ExploreYourArchive www.exploreyourarchive.org/photographic...

A great thread highlighting Kew's work during WWII - lots of fascinating scientific research and botanical efforts went on and are recorded in our Library & Archives. #VE80 #VEDay80 #ExploreYourArchive #KewLA

This year’s #metgala was based on M.L. Miller’s groundbreaking book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. ...As usual some celebs missed the theme, dressing as some of our favourite fungi 🍄✨ Starting with Cynthia Erivo as Cosmospora arxii 🍄🧵👇

The German office for the protection of the Constitution has, after a long period of monitoring, declared the AfD a “confirmed far-right party” — a landmark decision, meaning they’ve been declared a party that acts against the German Constitution and democratic order: www.spiegel.de/politik/deut...

Die gesichert rechtsextreme AfD nicht in die Talkshows einzuladen, stärkt nicht ihren Opfermythos. Der wird gestärkt, wenn man sie einlädt und vor Millionenpublikum jammern lässt, dass sie das Opfer sei.

Hullo! Slow out the starting blocks but we're now here on Bluesky to help connect archives, archivists and anyone one interested in archives and see what's going on. If you're already a member of the ARA, or would like to join you can email us at [email protected]

Our Library & Archive teams are hosting a show-and-tell session on 12 May as part of @urbantreefest.bsky.social! 🌳 Come along to see great materials all to do with Kew's trees. It's first come first serve, so make sure to book soon! ⏰ #KewLA Find out more 👇 urbantreefestival.org/trees-in-kew...

Recently, we came across this treasure trove again: notebooks and sketches by William Edward Trevithick (1899-1958), a gardener turned botanical illustrator and artist 🌱🖌️ He would end up contributing around 60 plates to Curtis's Botanical Magazine. #KewLA #Archives #SciArt

Huge news today that the Darwin papers in our #KewLA #Archive collection are being added to the @unesco.org Memory of the World Register! 🗃️ Take a look at the writings of a young Charles Darwin with our Senior Archivist & Records Manager, Kiri 👇

Hello! We're The London Archives, a free public archive focusing on the history of London from 1067. We look after over 100km of manuscripts, books, drawings, engravings, photos and films spanning 1000 years of London's history! Give us a follow. #archives #history #LondonHistory