iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Fiona Ainsworth @fionaainsworth.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Our Reading Room display ‘Female Figures and Fungi: A Foray into the Mycological Past’ has been extended until 3 September! Find out stories such as those of Kew mycologist Elsie Wakefield and many more. Accessible from 10am-4pm Tuesday to Thursday. #KewLA

Section of the front of a staff file, which is made of a brown paper material. The writing on the front, in black font, reads: Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, 1/Staff/59, Miss E M Wakefield Lady Assistant

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Fiona Ainsworth @fionaainsworth.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Kew lawns turning brown, high temperatures and a long period without rain, protecting the gardens from fire... It might sound like a description of Kew in 2026 but these familiar weather conditions come from a letter in the archives from July 1959! #KewLA

Image of a cross section of a letter, with some typescript faded. It reads 'The Kew lawns are as brown as they have ever been after such high temperatures and such a long period without rain. Kew Green was on fire last Saturday which warns us of the need to take still greater care in the Gardens against the spread of fire. The temperature in our preparers' hut was just on 100°F a few days ago when work for the ladies there became impossible. With many thanks, Yours very sincerely, C.E. Hubbard.'

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alice-munday.bsky.social @alice-munday.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Only a few weeks left to come and see our Reading Room display! 🍄🍄‍🟫#KewLA #fungi

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Fiona Ainsworth @fionaainsworth.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Have you ever wondered what a working week as Director of Kew is like? This article from 1949 gives us an insight into life at Kew for Sir Edward Salisbury. His week ranged from answering correspondence and meeting staff across the Gardens to hosting visitors in the Herbarium. #KewLA

Image showing cross section of 'One Man's Week' article from Leader Magazine, 21 May 1949. Details of some days of the week are obscured but Tuesday and Wednesday can be seen in full.

“and quiet half-hour with The Times. Then back to the office to catch up with my absence.
TUESDAY. – The sun shines temptingly on cherry blossom and daffodils, but as soon as the heavy post is dealt with, across to the Jodrell Laboratory, to discuss with Dr. Metcalfe progress with a new book summarising the structural features that characterise the different groups of flowering plants. After lunch, Professor Hans Pettersen, the explorer, and Mme. Pettersen, who is a botanist, came to see the herbarium, where nearly six million dried specimens are housed, and also the specialised library of some 45,000 volumes. We looked at the orchids and after tea discussed scientific problems of mutual interest.
After dinner perusal of memoranda and papers for morrow’s activities till 11, followed by a Bach and Purcell broadcast, and so to bed.
WEDNESDAY. – Another heavy post, including enquiries from Africa, America, Australia, Ceylon and India, and administrative problems at home. Then plans for planting Imperial War Graves Cemetries to be examined. Most of the day taken up with interviewing applicants for posts in the Kew Constabulary.”

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alice-munday.bsky.social @alice-munday.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Our exhibition is now open! Come see it if in the Kew area 🍄🍄‍🟫

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Fiona Ainsworth @fionaainsworth.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

The Archives Graduate Trainee recently completed their cataloguing project, working on the papers of William Philip Hiern. Amongst his research papers on Central African plants, they discovered notes which also included a pressed plant specimen! #KewLA

A handwritten note, resting on top of other research papers. Along the top of the note, it reads ‘Br Mus’ (referring to the British Museum), the date 18 June 1881 and ‘of Sepa Pinto no 64’. Underneath, it notes the plant name cometes abyssinica. The remainder of the note gives reference to other plant collections, including specimen number and year. Halfway down the righthand side of the notes, is a small pressed specimen of the cometes abyssinica.

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alice-munday.bsky.social @alice-munday.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Sadly my traineeship is coming but the exciting opportunity to next Archives Trainee is now open for applications!

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alice-munday.bsky.social @alice-munday.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

This is BIG considering the voting patterns of Kent 🙌

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Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Some bad news from your favourite archive

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The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) @themerl.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Breaking news: we've just signed a once-in-a-lifetime loan agreement to bring rural England's most iconic artwork home for the first time in 1,000 years. Introducing our 2027 major exhibition - Bayewe Tapestry: the Fight to Wool England.

A photoshopped image from the Bayeux Tapestry, showing Harold Godwinson swearing on holy relics an oath to the Absolute Unit (a very large sheep).

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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Pop Leo asked if he should put on gloves to turn pages in the gorgeous Renaissance Bible and the librarian explained why it’s better to do so with bare hands. Glorious reaction. Every rare books librarian & archivist feeling very seen, I gather. www.instagram.com/reel/DUcpEBY... #BookHistory

Screenshot of an Instagram video capturing pope Leo with his mouth open in astonishment

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Guildhall Library @guildhalllibrary.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

We must thank a Victorian visitor for preserving this guide book to @kewgardens from 1854 [PAM 228]! Printed on cheap paper but full of information about the gardens, highlights such as the Palm House, and descriptions of trees and plants from around the world. 🌴

View of the impressive and large Palm House at Kew Gardens. Many people/families in Victorian dress are walking close by admiring the view. (PAM 228)

Cover of the guide book (1854) for Kew Gardens printed on pale blue paper with an illustration showing 8 people in Victorian dress at a gateway to the gardens. This cost Two Pence. (PAM 228)

Diagrams of palm trees - a fan Palm and a Cabbage Palm - in the greenhouses of Kew.

Diagrams of various fruits growing in the greenhouses of Kew - Bread fruit, Longan, Pawpaw and Mango.

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Fiona Ainsworth @fionaainsworth.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

I don't always get a chance to see what is flowering in the Gardens during the working week so it was nice to see some of the spectacular blossoms near the Palm House recently. Of course we are lucky to have our own blossoms in the Library and Archives, but in botanical illustration form! #KewLA

A photograph of the back of Kew's Palm House with a tree of pale pink blossom in the foreground set against a sparkling blue sky.

A woodblock print of Prunus armeniaca from Honzō Zufu (illustrated manual of medicinal plants) from Kew's Library and Archives. It shows a sprig of 8 flowers in various stages of bloom rendered in graduated pinks to white. Japanese text runs down the side of the page.

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Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

🎨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

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."

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The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 30/01/2026

Say hello to Hannah Spencer—councillor, plumber, greyhound lover and your Green Party candidate for Gorton and Denton 💚

INTRODUCING!
Hannah Spencer
Green Party candidate for GORTON & DENTON
Green Party
Promoted by Chris Williams on behalf of the Green Party, both at PO Box 78066, London SE16 9GQ

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Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

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

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

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alice-munday.bsky.social @alice-munday.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

It gets worse the more you look at it 🫠

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.

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Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

🎶A botanical musical? We recently stumbled across these in the 'Flora Cibaria' manuscript of botanist Lilly Wigg (1749-1828). The volumes consist of other people's writings and are full of surprises, with psalms and melodies strewn throughout, and little direct link to the botany on the page. #KewLA

Two lines of musical notation written vertically down a page in a bound manuscript volume. On either side of the notation are handwritten notes referencing plants, their uses and publications relating to them. As the photo is taken at an angle, some of the writing is cropped.

Trippasia R 15.
Citrus parva
Guin I 63

Balsamita vulgar...
Willd Tom III Pars III ...
Tanacetum Balsamita ...
Lin

Ulva diaphana makes an excellent pickle. Mr J D Downes.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight www.cityam.com/the-british-...

cityam.com

The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?

The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity

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Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Today on #ArmisticeDay, we're remembering the Kew staff who served during both World Wars and balanced their lives in science and horticulture with duty and sacrifice 🧵👇 #KewLA

Herbarium illustration of a paper showing colour code bar at the top of the image.

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Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

One story that stands out from our "Men on Active Service" volume is J. Sparrow, who served in the Army Cyclist Corps in the First World War. Awarded the Military Medal in 1916, he returned to Kew in 1919. #KewLA

An opened volume with blue pages with a light brown folder and stapled collection of papers resting on top and covering the bottom half of the pages underneath. In the volume, there are several columns which are titled as follows: name, private address, service no + unit, position at Kew, married or single, no of children, weekly wage. Titles of three remaining columns are cut off in the image. The second row is for a J.Sparrow of Kew Bridge Road, Brentford who held a gardener position. On the right hand side of the volume, a white strip of paper has been glued in and reads the following: ‘Pte J Sparrow, No.4650, 24th Divisional Cyclist Company, Army Service Corps. British Expeditionary Force. Awarded Military Medal.’ The brown folder has a black label with white typescript reading ‘J.Sparrow’ in the top lefthand corner. The stapled papers read ‘Name – John Sparrow’ as well as fields for home address and date of application or renewal, but these have been left incomplete.

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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Solidarity with @pcsunion.bsky.social workers at the British Library. 300 workers on strike. Some of them having to take second jobs or taking out loans just to be able to survive. A Pay "award" below inflation is a pay cut. Unacceptable. Solidarity - and keep organising! ✊🏼

Zack on picket line with workers from PCS and British Library.

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alice-munday.bsky.social @alice-munday.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Great to be part of #HistDay25 and talk all about Kew, as well as exploring for myself lots of new archives and collections!

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Tribune @tribunemagazine.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

British Library workers are sick of poor pay, overwork, and feeling the fallout of a cyber-attack which left them vulnerable to identity theft and blackmail. Now, they are going on strike for a fortnight. tribunemag.co.uk/2025/10/from...

tribunemag.co.uk

From National Treasure to National Scandal

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Led By Donkeys @ledbydonkeys.org · 27/10/2025

Farage: epic grifter

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Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Last week our Library & Archives team welcomed 60 students from Graphic Comms at the University of Southampton to explore themes around plant histories, challenging perspectives through engagement with the archive. We look forward to seeing their interpretations of the display we prepared! #KewLA

A spacious library room with tables displaying open historical books, manuscripts, and documents under bright linear ceiling lights.

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Odd This Day @oddthisday.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Ah, happy 88th anniversary of the day Oswald Mosley tried to sell fascism to Liverpudlians – and someone concussed him with a brick

A man in a suit stands at a microphone which has been mounted on the roof of a van. There are loudspeakers at his feet, and a building behind him. He has an arm raised, and is flinching as projectiles are hurled at him, because he's a fucking Nazi

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Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Botanist or poet? For National Poetry Day, we discovered poetry hidden amongst the personal papers of botanists - from J. Fraser’s 1919 poem on poppies to H.M Ward’s critique’s on his mother’s poetry! #KewLA

Close up of letter from H.M. Ward to his mother, reading: ‘July 20: I have just got the second batch of your poems. I strongly advise you to be careful, the ideas are…& poetical to a degree; but you…too apt to lose the on the metre on you…in technical construction.

Handwritten poem by J Fraser, titled ‘The Corn Poppy’ with a sentence crossed out then four stanzas reading:
“The scarlet poppy reddens daily, Amongst the cornfields blossoms gaily, Makes comely neighbours wanton palely, and dazzles all beneath the skies, But beckons me with swanting [sic] eyes.
Uh! Could I like the gliding swallow, Explore the vale and upland follows, No more in smoky dens I’d swallow, No longer breathe the air that falls Midst crowded streets and staring walls.
Then would I bid adieu to collow, And scour the…height and hollow, Un…the downs and blithely follow, along the fields where bright corn rose – The glorious flaming poppy – glows.
To-day would have no room for sorrow, No boding thoughts to gloom to-morrow, And each day after fair would borrow Another glide along the plain, to search amongst the bended grain’”

Loose papers, with handwritten poem on top of five stanzas, the second of which is crossed out then rewritten underneath. It reads:
“The transport bent by wholesome breezes, Where charming guise of landscape pleases, Brings life amend, as man can…., and genders thanks for flow’r so fair, That smile and make my errand there.
I love to see the wild bee settle, Upon the smooth and silky petal, And laugh to view its ardent mettle, When tumbling round the…flow’r, Collecting bee bread hour by hour.
The longest day draws with gloaming, And puts an end to handsome roaming; I grieve to mark its shadows coming, But more to think when day is blind, that I must leave my flow’r behind.
The corn, the poppy, bee and ether, And birds that wing on airy feather, all choose the wilds and hang together, Beneath the great and blue sky-dome, And I must visit them at home”
Signed at end: J.F., March 15th 1919

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Jeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

On National Poetry Day, the greatest poem I have ever read

A printed poem which reads:

I hav for breakfast Weetabix

I hav for lunch some meat

I have for tea 2 sosajis and thats enuf to eat

Peter Hazel, 5

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Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Want to sign an apologetic letter? Don't just include your signature, do what Charles Grenfell has done in this 1870s letter: draw a little sketch of yourself and say that you 'feel quite idiotic'.

A signature in a letter written on black ink on thin white paper. It says 'From your [?] Charles Grenfell'.

Beneath the signature is a sketch of a man posing with the words 'feel quite idiotic'.

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Archives and Records Association UK and Ireland @araukie.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Why aren’t Police Records in England & Wales covered by the Public Records Act? We've been campaigning on this since 2012 - blog for more info: www.campaignforrecords.org/blog/why-arent-police-records-covered-by-the-public-records-act #publicaccountability of interest @andyburnham.bsky.social ?

Photo of a paper airplane on fire with text that reads "I am under no obligation to disclose anything and the papers belong to me. If I wanted to I could take them into the yard and have a bonfire with them" South Yorkshire Chief Constable Med Hughes.

Credit for photo of on fire airplane is Aron Yigin via Unsplash

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Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

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

Media (75): A cropped section from a page of a notebook, with handwriting in lines to the left of a coloured sketch. The cropped writing reads: "Sinapsis arvensis. Charlock specimen. ..., spreading plant … with numerous form-petalled … clear yellow flowers. 6 stamens… arranged 4 long, 2 short, leaves variable, .... stem leaves at the base of ... each branch deeply ... toothed, radical leaves...much cut. Stem covered ... with stiff hairs. In damp places grows to 2 feet in height. Brassica specimen ... 🐡

Media (76): A cropped section from a page of a notebook, with a coloured illustration in the bottom left corner of a written page. The cropped text reads: "in lenth ... is water. Flowers ... closely packed clusters ... 12 together, on short pedicels. Leaves with ... stalks, and three broad, toothed leaflets. Seedpods medium, much wrinkled. Very common on gravelly desert, forming brilliant yellow patches, as it flowers most prolifically, January to March. Vetch specimen. Handsome plant growing in most places. Flowers yellowish white, medium size, with standard ... delicate deck vein... leaves with 7-9 ... of leaflets, ending... forked tendril... small, dark ... Seedpod.

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Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

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

Black-and-white photograph labelled “Plate 31” showing a field camp in the Kirkia forests between Tutumi and Bushman Mine. Two vehicles are parked in a grassy clearing, with one person standing between them and supplies scattered on the ground. Sparse trees surround the scene.

Page from a historical botanical notebook featuring handwritten descriptions of plant species. The text is written in cursive.

Another page from a historical botanical notebook featuring handwritten descriptions of plant species. The text is written in cursive.

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Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

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

A image from a handmade journal, with a typescript poem titled ‘On the Showing of Oreocereus’. First stanza reads: “The best thing for this cactus/when he’s going to a show,/is to apply a shampoo – thus:”. Underneath is drawing of cactus hidden beneath shampoo suds and bubbles. The second stanza reads: “-From topmost spine to toe./A most refreshing feeling this-/When you have hair as long as his!”. Underneath is a second drawing of a smiling cactus, with all of its spikes standing on end. 🐡 #SciArt

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Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick @mrcwarwick.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Time to celebrate #NationalPotatoDay with 'Spuds in Pubs'. You've probably never considered smoked mackerel fillets with orange segments, or cod roe with pearl onions, as jacket potato toppings. These culinary delights feature in the British Beer and Pub Association papers from the 1970s.

Cover of 'Spuds in Pubs' featuring a jacket potato, a pint and a set of darts.

List of unusual baked potato fillings accompanied by a colour photograph.

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Kew Gardens @rbgkew.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

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/...

A typed report from section titled “Section 2: Survey and Investigation of the Structural Condition”. Text on the left-hand side of the image describes the need for a structural survey of Palm House, beginning in December 1980, which “highlighted certain areas which are in a critical condition”. Two photos (of “Clerestory Pilaster Damage” and “Lantern Structure”) on the right hand side of the image. The photo is taken diagonally across the page so that sections of the lines are not within frame.

An architectural drawing showing 4 glasshouses plus surrounding gardens. The arches within the drawing are those found on the Mall during the 1953 Coronation, as noted on caption found on the back of the drawing.

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Marsh's Library @marshslibrary.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Vandalism! At some stage in its nearly 500 year history, someone cut out the printer's ornament from the title page of our 1544 copy of Aesop's Fables.

Title page of 16th century book with woodcut illustration cut out

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