#KewLA
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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.
November 11, 2025 at 1:09 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
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
Illustrated book plate showing the light yellow flowers and green leaves of Vanilla planifolia. The plant is illustrated in a diagonal sweep across the page with a seed pod shown to the right-hand side. Several cross-sections and plant parts are depicted #KewLA #Vanilla #BotanicalIllustration #SciArt
July 26, 2025 at 12:30 PM
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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 👇
April 23, 2025 at 10:58 AM
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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
January 7, 2026 at 5:45 PM
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Many Kew staff, however, never returned. Their names are honoured in the Temple in Arethusa at Kew Gardens, a lasting memoir to their courage.

Learn more 👉 ow.ly/gORT50XpukT

For archive enquiries: archive@kew.org

#ArmisiticeDay #KewLA
Floreat Kew: in remembrance
A look at the Temple of Arethusa and its significance
ow.ly
November 11, 2025 at 1:09 PM
rbgkew.bsky.social
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
A black and white photograph of six women in traditional 1940s gardening clothing, sitting in a glasshouse, drinking from mugs.
July 30, 2025 at 9:35 AM
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🚨With the Archives Revealed funding, an exciting opportunity has arisen to join our team as Assistant Archivist on the project. This will be a great opportunity to make our archive more accessible to new audiences. #KewLA

Closing: 21 Sept

Find out more here: careers.kew.org/vacancy/assi...
four bays in a shelving unit holding numerous bound volumes and archival boxes.
September 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
fionaainsworth.bsky.social
This 1799 book by John Lettsom, requested by one of our readers, has some lovely illustrations of insects on the title page and starts off with a fitting quote: "He that enlarges his curiosity after the works of nature, [...] demonstrably multiplies the inlets to happiness." #KewLA
Book 'The Naturalist's and Traveller's companion; by John Coakley Lettsom, M.D.' open at the title page. Both pages have coloured illustrations of various insects. Detail of an illustration of a jewel beetle in green and red.
September 23, 2026 at 9:04 AM
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There are only a few more days to see our small but perfectly formed display on the botanical illustrator Stella Ross Craig - a titan amongst scientific artists of the 20th Century. You can see some of the materials she used to produce her meticulous plant studies, such as this paint palette #KewLA
Photograph showing a paint palette including well used pans of watercolour and a spectrum of mixed colours ranging from reds to greens. A pencil and paintbrush are displayed alongside. In the background, part of a botanical illustration can be seen displayed on an easel.
May 5, 2026 at 9:35 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
The Ancient Greeks associated the corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) with Morpheus, the god of sleep. In Chinese history and Persian poetry, the poppy was associated with eternal love & loyalty.

It has long been used across cultures for its medicinal properties. #FolkloreThursday #KewLA
Hand-coloured copperplate Illustration of Papaver rhoeas, also known as corn poppy, from Flora Londinensis: or Plates and Descriptions of Such Plants as Grow Wild in the Environs of London, etc, vol 3, plate 32, 1778. #SciArt #envhist 📗 Envhist #climateheritage
April 3, 2025 at 3:57 PM
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While most of our archives are from the 19th century onwards, we do have a few older records, including this #EYAMedieval land deed from 1451! It is written in Latin and relates to Ardingly, which is near where our second site Wakehurst is located. #KewLA
A handwritten document laid out and held down by snake weights. It is written in Latin, in early modern handwriting. It is possibly a land deed.
December 1, 2025 at 4:01 PM
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Some unusual items in Kew’s Library and Archives include 26 wax orchids by Sir William Thiselton Dyer, Director of Kew (1885-1905), and artist Edith Delta Blackman (model shown of Vanda coerulea). These lifelike models are hard to tell apart from living specimens! #KewLA
Photograph of the stem, flowers, and leaves of a three dimensional wax orchid. There are numerous flowers on the stem, all which are white with a purple edge.
September 25, 2025 at 6:52 PM
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What #EYABeauty lies on the inside of this unassuming folder? We're showing off Elsie Wakefield's fungi illustrations today 🍄 Wakefield became Head of Mycology at Kew Gardens in 1915 and our Archives hold her personal papers collection, which includes letters, illustrations and photographs. #KewLA
A blank grey paper folder on a brown wooden surface. Numerous coloured illustrations of mushrooms layered on top of each other so that corners and sections of pages are obscured. On each sheet there are light pencil annotations next to the illustrations.
November 30, 2025 at 10:00 PM
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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 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.
December 25, 2025 at 11:30 AM
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Here are some books we came across during a project in the mycology library last week. Our Library and Archives collections do not only cover plants, but also fungi and lichens. Some have very beautiful illustrations. Others (like the cordyceps) are rather gruesome... 🍄🍄‍🟫🍄‍🟫 #KewLA
Open book with a colour illustration of a bolete on the right-hand page. The description is in Polish. Black and white illustration of various fungi Detail of a colour illustration of various insects and cordyceps fungi growing out of them.
February 5, 2026 at 1:25 PM
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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
Numerous paper registered files stored vertically on five horizontal white shelves.
December 4, 2025 at 11:30 AM
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This one's a bit old, but I like it so much.
Art by Kewla Tekzer (cant find her here)
October 27, 2024 at 12:32 AM
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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
An oil on paper painting of a landscape depicting Sugarloaf Mountain, Rio de Janeiro, with trees and shrubs in the foreground. A sloth is seen feeding on a Trumpet Tree on the left.
September 11, 2025 at 9:13 AM
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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...
Trees in Kew Gardens’ Library and Archives — Urban Tree Festival
Kew Gardens’ Archives and Illustrations teams will host show and tell sessions relating to themes of colonialism and deforestation, historic uses of trees, and the role of trees in cities.
urbantreefestival.org
May 1, 2025 at 8:29 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
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.
October 15, 2025 at 6:02 PM
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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
December 8, 2025 at 11:53 AM
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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
A handwritten entry in ink numbered 126 in Roman numerals. The record lists a shipment to 'G H K Thwaites Esqr. Peredenia Ceylon (per care of William Cameron two [sketches of Wardian cases] of plants'. The first three plants visible in the list are: '1. Dasylirion acrotrichum. 2. Areea aleracea. 3. Onocarpus Patana.'
July 17, 2025 at 10:33 AM
rbgkew.bsky.social
🌺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
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.
December 20, 2025 at 2:30 PM
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This illustration is one of many in Charles Maries' collection of unpublished drawings and chapters for 'Mangoes of India', which will be one of the collections catalogued with this grant 🥭

#KewLA
Botanical illustration of two fruits hanging from a branch, one yellow and one reddish-brown. Both are round and spotted, with a thick, textured stem. Signed and dated at the bottom.
August 19, 2025 at 9:04 AM
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🚨 Very old item alert!

While most of our collections date from the 1840s, our volunteers recently found this document, dating all the way back to 1451! It's in Latin & possibly a land deed relating to Ardingly, where our second site Wakehurst is based.

Can you make out any of the words?

#KewLA
A handwritten document laid out and held down by snake weights. It is written in Latin, in early modern handwriting. It is possibly a land deed. A folded document with handwritten date written on it: 10th November 1451. '29 Hon: 6'.
June 5, 2025 at 9:02 AM