What's in our Archive?

Seven million pages of treasure 

If you follow our blog you'll have some idea of the treasures held among the seven million pieces of paper that form Kew’s Archives. The collections reflect Kew’s long history, documenting the Garden, its staff and buildings, and the history of botany and plant-collecting generally. Surprising stories can be found among the papers: did you know that some Victorians thought that the Seychelles were the Garden of Eden and that the giant Coco de Mer seed was the forbidden fruit? How about that Joseph Hooker, Kew’s Director from 1865 to1885, drew the first western depiction of Mount Everest? Did you hear that our first female gardeners in 1898 were made to wear bloomers and dress like men so as not to distract their male colleagues, and to discourage 'sweethearting'?

We are often asked what's actually in the Archive. Our Archive holds unpublished documentary evidence, such as correspondence, photographs, diaries and journals, notebooks on plant collecting, research papers, raw scientific data, maps, architectural plans, sketchbooks and posters. Here are a few facts about our Archive:

• Our oldest item: Schedel’s Calendarium, a beautiful manuscript depicting the hundreds of plants growing in the Prince Bishop of Eichstatt’s garden in 1610. 
• Our largest item: the volume of awards and honours belonging to Joseph Hooker.
• The longest-running series: our Record Books, which record plants exchanged between Kew and individuals around the world from 1793 to the 1980s.
• Our most quoted items: the letters Charles Darwin wrote to Professor Henslow, while on the HMS Beagle voyage.

The Archives are open to the public and can be consulted in the Library, Art and Archives Reading Room, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.

• You can view our catalogue here: www.calmview.eu/kew/calmview
• Some of our historical Directors’ correspondence can be viewed here: https://plants.jstor.org

Sadly, only a very small percentage of our collections have been catalogued - despite Kew’s over-250 year history and extensive Archive, Kew has only had an archivist in post for the last 25 years, meaning that we have some serious catching up to do!

- Kiri Ross-Jones -

Archivist & Records Manager