The Archives team at Kew has been hosting tours and talks as part of the national Archives Awareness Campaign on the subject of plant hunters, and my blog contributes to this event.

Plant hunters were botanists and horticulturalists who were willing to take risks to travel the other side of the world, sometimes for several years, to discover new plants for science and to ornament people’s gardens. They had a real passion for discovery and plants and I’m going to introduce you to a few of these remarkably intrepid travellers. 

Joseph Hooker in the USA; Colorado Expedition in 1877 with Dr. and Mrs. Asa Gray amongst others  

Introducing Sir Joseph Banks

Sir Joseph Banks, who had accompanied Captain Cook on HMS Endeavour’s voyage to the South Pacific (1768-1771), was appointed as an informal director to the Gardens by George III in 1773. Banks sent the first Kew collectors around the world, including Francis Masson, Allan Cunningham and James Bowie. Their love of plants and willingness to explore unknown shores, despite obvious dangers, resulted in many specimens being shipped to Kew from all over the growing British Empire. Under Banks’ supervision, Kew became one of the foremost botanical gardens in the world, during the golden age of plant hunting.

William & Joseph Hooker

Others in the 19th century followed in their footsteps, even though the Gardens, now a public institution, could not afford to send plant hunters as Joseph Banks had done. However, the Empire was well established and the thirst for new plants was far from quenched. Kew still contributed to expeditions by lending either expertise or botanists and gardeners to others’ expeditions. Sir Joseph Hooker (1817-1911), the son of Sir William Hooker (Kew’s first public Director) and later himself Director at Kew, took part in several expeditions. The first voyage was in 1839-1843 onboard HMS Erebus, an Antarctic expedition, and he later travelled to the central and eastern Himalaya (1847-1849), having obtained a government grant for the trip. In Sikkim, Hooker and his travelling companion, Archibald Campbell were arrested for border violation, only being released when the British Government, threatened to invade Sikkim. Hooker collected c.700 species in India and Nepal and added 25 new rhododendrons to the 50 already known, helping to create a rhododendron craze amongst British gardeners.

20th century plant hunters

In the 20th century, Kew used its own botanists to bring plants back from around the world, and self-made plant collectors still sent plants to Kew. Frank Kingdon-Ward (1885-1958), often referred to as the last of the great plant collectors, sent 120 plants to Kew. He explored regions such as Yunnan in China, Burma and Tibet in the 1920s and 1930s. He was so enthused by Burma’s landscapes that he later returned with his second wife Jean in 1953/4. However, he found the country much changed and some of the habitats he had so admired had been destroyed to make way for agriculture.

Frank Kingdon-Ward's Diary for the Lohit Valley Expedition 1950 FKW/1/25 (f 4)

His diaries make a fascinating read and are far from being dry, scientific writings. He was interested in everything, and talks about the geography, weather, plants as well as native people encountered in an anecdotal manner and with great humour. He also published numerous books about his expeditions which are still widely available today.

Plant hunters were individuals of great courage and determination, equipped with passion and devotion, sometimes enduring weeks of loneliness and physical hardship, bringing back with them the extraordinary plants which can be seen in our gardens today.
 

- Michele -
 

Further information

• Read about the Archives Awareness Campaign.
• Find out more about Kew's Archives.
• See photographs taken by Frank Kingdon-Ward courtesy of the Royal Geographical Society.
• Visit Jim Endersby's site on Sir Joseph Hooker.
• Discover more about Plant Explorers at a site dedicated to their work.
• If you would like to see the archival collections, please contact the Archives. 

See our interactive book for iPad, The Plant Hunters, featured as new and noteworthy on the Apple iBookstore

• Watch our video about the ibook 
• Buy the ibook

From our humble beginnings - four members of staff sharing one small basement office in Kew's Herbarium - the Directors' Correspondence Digitisation team have, quite literally, moved up in the world. In the spring of 2010, we moved out of the basement into a roomy, but temporary home on the first floor. Then, at the end of last year, we finally moved into our new, long-term accommodation, the Library Digitisation Suite: purpose-built offices situated within the original library on the first floor of the Herbarium. The suite comprises a main office, a scanning room/meeting room and a dark room for our digital camera set up.  

Part of the main office of the new Library Digitisation Suite

Thank you

Many thanks must go to the Estates staff for remodelling the library space to construct the new offices and for helping us to move our desks and equipment. Thanks also go to the IT and communications staff who ensured that everything was in working order on the day of our move, and to Andrew McRobb, one of Kew's in-house photographers, who set up and calibrated our digital camera – for the second time in a year.

 A challenge for our readers

We have started the New Year in our new suite with renewed vigour and enthusiasm! Our project is going well and, since starting the digitisation of the Asia Directors' Correspondence collection in April last year, we have digitised eight out of the 26 volumes of correspondence: that translates to the team having read through, summarised and imaged over 6,000 pages of predominantly hand-written letters – no mean feat! In fact, to give you a small taste of what we do every day, we'd like to set our readers a bit of a challenge... 

Extract of a letter from Justus Karl Hasskarl to Sir William Jackson Hooker – can you decipher the handwriting?

Above is an extract taken from a six-page letter written by Justus Karl Hasskarl to Sir William Jackson Hooker, from Priangan, Java, in 1855. As you can see, the writing from one side of a page has bled through to the other side of the page. Have a go and see if you can work out what it says? 

Thankfully not all the correspondence is this difficult to decipher! We look forward to telling you more about what we find in the collection over the coming year. 

- Helen -

Further Information

• Browse the Library, Art & Archives web pages
• Take a look at some of the recent Library, Art & Archives blog posts   

The beautifully restored Marianne North Gallery re-opened last month with the original artworks back on the walls. Here in the conservation studio we are so excited to see the paintings back in the gallery knowing that their condition has been improved and that they will continue to be enjoyed by visitors for many years to come. It is, though, with a touch of sadness that we lay down our tools as we have all become rather attached to the paintings. Here are some of the highlights of the project which have made the time working in the studio so enjoyable.

Hidden treasures

Through the examination and treatment of the paintings we have been able to discover more about Marianne North’s painting techniques as well as uncover additional images. Rachael Smith, one of the conservators working on the project, has now totally uncovered the completed painting she discovered on the back of A Cycad in Fruit in Mr Hill’s Garden, Verulam, Natal.
  

Partially revealed painting on the back of painting no. 366 (Image: RBG Kew)

Fully uncovered painting on the back of painting no. 366 (Image: RBG Kew)

The new image is a landscape and is similar to another painting in the gallery Male Pawpaw with Flowers and Imperfect Fruit. As a board had been stuck directly onto the oil paint, Rachel had to spend a lot of time devising ways of removing the board remnants without removing the paint. An image of the uncovered painting will also be viewable on the new touchscreens in the gallery.

New materials

Our time working on so many paintings by one artist has also enabled us to carry out some research into the different materials Marianne North used. I have been looking at the ground or ‘primer’ under the paint layer, while other members of the studio have been examining the pigments, inks and papers she used. The practical work has also thrown up new and exciting challenges which do not usually occur in paper conservation. In between removing around 800 backing boards from the paintings we have been consolidating paint, in-painting losses and repairing tears, amongst other interesting treatments. We are in the process of writing an article, which we hope to publish in a conservation related journal, as we feel we have learnt a great deal from undertaking this unusual project.

Sharing enthusiasm

I think what has been another real treat is that we have been given the opportunity to meet some of the people who share our enthusiasm for Marianne North. It has been wonderful to hear such a positive response to the paintings, and to watch visitors in the gallery find images that they have a personal attachment to; whether it is a place they have visited, a particular favourite plant, or, in one case, a picture of a friend’s garden! Through our talks with visitors and meetings with the sponsors of the paintings it has been really interesting and encouraging to see what a broad spectrum of people enjoy Marianne North’s work.

Rebecca Chisholm giving a talk to visitors in the Marianne North Gallery (Image: RBG Kew)

Many thanks to all those who made this project possible – the condition of this fantastic collection is now greatly improved and many more visitors to the Gardens will be able to enjoy the work of this remarkable woman.

- Eleanor -
 

Further Information 

• Find out more about the Marianne North Gallery
• Discover how you can play a part in safeguarding the future of the Marianne North paintings
• Read about Marianne North and her links to Kew  

Merry Christmas

The Library, Art & Archives at Kew will be closed to visitors between Friday 24 December 2010 and Monday 3 January 2011 inclusive. We will unfortunately be unable to answer telephone enquiries during this period and email enquiries sent to library@kew.org will be answered from Tuesday 4th January 2011 onwards.

In the meantime, please take the opportunity to read our blogs and browse the Kew website. We love to read your comments, so tell us what you think!

We wish you all a peaceful Christmas and a very happy and prosperous New Year!   

- David and team -

Further Information

• For further details visit the Library, Art & Archives webpages. 

It has now been three months since I took up the role of Archive Graduate Trainee at Kew, and already I have learned so much about archives and records management. Having realised that to truly know a collection can take a lifetime! I am content with my increasing knowledge of the archives here.

Having completed my induction I am now involved in a number of projects, one of which involves repackaging the papers of a botanist who was involved in the conservation of an endangered tree species, the Populus nigra. It is fascinating being able to see the extent of this man’s dedication to preserving the native trees of Britain. Unfortunately some of the papers have been badly damaged by damp and mould, and owing to the nature of his work I often find myself coming across suspicious looking envelopes filled with very old plant samples. However I find that this is what makes the job so satisfying; knowing that the important work of this man will not be lost and will be available for researchers in the future.
 

The Populus nigra papers
 

I am also now well under way with my first cataloguing project, which again concerns the papers of a botanist who worked closely with Kew. Whilst keeping the original order of a collection is important in order to ensure that it doesn’t lose any evidential value, I find that the challenge is in creating a clear and concise catalogue which will accurately reflect the collection and make it as accessible as possible. It appears that this botanist carried out invaluable work producing plant determination lists in the West Indies, and I really hope that the catalogue I create will increase the accessibility of his papers so that people will be able to use his work as a reference for many years to come.

In the Records Management aspect of my role, I have learned so much in the past couple of months. What seems very complicated in theory can be made very straightforward through well organised and efficient organisation. Being able to work with both current records and archives is a great advantage, as I am able to see the process of creating records through to their destruction or transfer to archives. It has also made me more aware issues surrounding the profession, such as the increasing focus on the need for effective electronic records management systems, and the PR work in raising awareness of efficient record keeping.
 

Sarah getting to know the collections

On a final note, I will be starting the MLitt in Archives and Records Management by distance learning at the University of Dundee in January. I think it is a great opportunity to be able to apply what I will be learning in practice on a day-to-day basis whilst gaining a qualification on the road to becoming a fully fledged archivist.

- Sarah -

Further Information

• Read about Kew's Archive collections.
• Kew's Archive and Library Graduate Trainee posts.
• Further information on careers in archives.
• If you would like to see the archival collections, please contact the Archives.