Due to some, shall we say, unfortunate technical difficulties (I pressed the DELETE key while the text was all highlighted), my first post about Kew has disappeared. So here's round two...
FRIDAY, JULY 11th the class visited the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew to learn more about their archives, tour the herbarium, learn more about Beatrix Potter and finally, enjoy a lovely (said without sarcasm) walk through the gardens in the rain.
Before coming on this trip I had no idea that Beatrix Potter (of Peter Rabbit fame) had any connection to Kew. It was only in talking with another classmate (who hoped that the gift shop would have some Peter Rabbit memorabilia) that I realized the connection. Before the now-famous books, Potter studied fungi at Kew Gardens. And she is responsible for a number of botanical prints in their collections.
Aside from the gardens themselves, the herbarium was my favorite. First, the word "herbarium" is just cool. Second, the herbarium is essentially a library of plant specimens. Countless plants and their seeds have been mounted on cardstock and preserved in archive boxes with complete catalog records dating back to the garden's founding in 1759. In 2003 the garden was made a UNESCO World Heritage site. There is also an art collection and a botanic books collection, which features some very old and rare books that are still used in research by the garden's botanists.
The day also included a wonderful presentation on Beatrix Potter and her secret code diary, a delicious lunch in the Orangery and a successful trip to the gift shop.
What is Beatrix Potter's secret code diary? Beginning at age 14, Potter began keeping a journal or diary written in secret code that she devised herself. She wrote about all sorts of things. In 1958, this journal was finally decoded (after lots of frustration and false starts) by Leslie Linder (ancestor of our presenter, Andrew Wiltshire) and published.
Most interesting random fact of the day... despite my frustrations over how small the Beatrix Potter books are when trying to shelve them at the library, their size serves a specific purpose: Beatrix Potter wanted the books to be easy for little hands to hold. Using that reasoning, I can't seem to feel frustrated anymore. It's too cute! :)
What is Beatrix Potter's secret code diary? Beginning at age 14, Potter began keeping a journal or diary written in secret code that she devised herself. She wrote about all sorts of things. In 1958, this journal was finally decoded (after lots of frustration and false starts) by Leslie Linder (ancestor of our presenter, Andrew Wiltshire) and published.
Most interesting random fact of the day... despite my frustrations over how small the Beatrix Potter books are when trying to shelve them at the library, their size serves a specific purpose: Beatrix Potter wanted the books to be easy for little hands to hold. Using that reasoning, I can't seem to feel frustrated anymore. It's too cute! :)
Note: I realize that date-wise my posts are now out of order. The aforementioned technical difficulties and an excitement over the Edinburgh Central Library are to blame. ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment