Blythe House

          The Blythe House is a grand Victorian style building that houses a number of museum collections. Its first purpose was a post office in the 1880's, until the building was bought out to serve as a storage space. Museums like the Victoria and Albert, the Science Museum, and the British Museum all have collections stored there. 

Exterior view of the Blythe House. 

Source: https://bakermallett.com/projects/

         Our class visited the Blythe House during our second week in London. There was no tour of the building, but we were given a presentation about the history behind the Blythe House, children's book collection, and their Beatrix Potter collection (author and artist behind Peter Rabbit). 

Presentation at the Blythe House. 

         The Beatrix Potter collection was obtained through the wealth of Leslie Linder. He was a collector of Potter's drawings, photographs, manuscripts, and any other related items. Over the years he obtained one the largest collections of Beatrix Potter related items. He was also able to break her coded journals, notes and observations. It was on his death in 1973 his collection was given to the V&A on permanent loan. He wanted the V&A to have his collection because he knew it would be properly taken care of. The collection today is worth around 20 million pounds, and laid the foundation for the museum to further expand its collection.

After the presentation we were able to get a closer look at some of the Beatrix Potter items they had on display for us. 

There were also some items from their large children's book collection. Many of which were donated by Queen Mary. 

Close up of Beatrix Potters photo album. 

Source:
https://olympia.london/visiting/local-area/listings/blythe-house

The British Library

            The second place we visited for the British Studies Program was the British Library. This visit was divided into two separate tours. The first tour was of the conservation center, and the second was the general tour of the library. Pictured above is the class during the second tour!

           The British Library a leading national library with a comprehensive research collection useful for academics and researchers. They have examples of writing in every form, and a massive collection of items in languages from all over the world. The library was at first a part of the British Museum until around 1973 when it was separated and became its own establishment. The library is a legal deposit library, which means that they receive a copy of every book published in the U.K and Ireland. As a result, the collection has grown to around 170 million items! (and its still growing) These items include books, newspapers, manuscripts, sound recoding's and more. The collection grows every year, adding millions of items. It is actually the third largest library in the world. 

          One thing that was interesting to learn is that the main building was designed to resemble a ship. At first glance it is not really noticeable. Only after learning this I was able to see the ship like aspects of the building. For instance, many of the entrances throughout the library had round port hole windows. Or if you look at the building from outside the shape of it even resembles a ship! If you look at the photo below you can just make it out.

(Credit https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/31/british-library-awarded-grade-i-listed-building-status)

          Another interesting thing we learned about on the general library tour was about the glass tower. The tower resides near the center of the building, and is about 4 stories high. It is filled with the first large donation of King George III's personal library of 80,000 books that date from 1423-1820. In fact, the libraries collection model is based off of this collection of books. Apparently King George III was very adamant about having a very diverse collection of books in many different languages and subject matters, and the library has followed suite. They currently have a large selection of books in many different languages. It is for this reason that 38% of patrons are international users, and they have 101 language curators. Check out the image below of the tower!

Close up of the Kings Library in the glass tower. 

The tower from the fourth floor. 

          The first tour we received gave us some insight on how their conservation labs work, and about some of their current conservation projects. For instance, the Qatar project is a 10 year partnership between the British Library and the Qatar Foundation. The project is working on digitizing a large selection of Arabic scientific manuscripts. So far they have digitized over 2 million items, and eventually they will all be accessible online for free. The project is still in process, since they have only completed the first phase they have years to go. Unfortunately, I was not able to take any photographs, but the one below is from their main conservation lab.

          The British Library was really an impressive place to visit. They have a large and diverse collection, with the latest technology. I had a wonderful time, and I'm glad they were able to give us a behind the scenes tour!




Source:
The British Library, (2019). https://www.bl.uk/about-us

The Royal Geographic Society

Welcome sign at the entrance of the Royal Geographical Society. 

           The Royal Geographic Society was the third place we visited for the British Studies Program. This visit was a little different from our previous ones, because a presentation was set up instead of a tour. The presentation consisted of not only the history behind the RGS, but it gave insight to some of their collections. On the table pictured below, one side had artifacts from the 'cold' regions and the opposite side had the 'hot' region artifacts. I really enjoyed this visit because the lecture revolved around these objects and the stories behind them!

After the lecture we were able to walk around and get a closer look at all the artifacts. 

         The Royal Geographic Society was founded in 1830 to promote scientific geography, at a time where there was still unknow parts of the world. For instance, in 1819 Europeans had no knowledge of the interior of Africa, and places in South America and Antarctica entirely were still yet to be discovered by the Europeans. (Some of these places have been discovered, but the Europeans have not yet). The RGS wanted to collect and digest geographic information of the many unknown regions of the world. They even worked together with other societies of the world to accomplish this goal. They not only funded expeditions, but they also provided training, and lent out scientific instruments.

        The RGS currently has a large collection of about 2 millions items. Of the 2 million items about half are maps, 1/2 million are various images like photographs, painting, drawing and glass plates. While about 250,000 are book volumes and their smallest part (and most interesting to see) of the collection are the artifacts. About half of their entire collection is digitized, leaving the rest accessible by card catalog.

The class viewing some of the artifacts on display. Pictured in the front is an incomplete map of Africa on the 'hot' side of the table.  

       The first part of the lecture was about the 'hot' expeditions. I found the stories to be very interesting, and the artifacts, maps and photographs that accompanied really brought them to life. The one that I enjoyed the most was about the discovery of the source of the Nile river. The source of the Nile was a real controversy, since a couple of different explorers claimed to find its source. The person first appointed by the RGS for the job was Richard Burton. Burton and his second in command John Speke set out in 1859. During this expedition, Speke set out on his own without Burton and found the source of the Nile to be Lake Victoria. This upset Burton, since Speke went without him and then took the credit for finding the source. So, Burton then venomously argued against Speke's findings, and claimed that the source was Lake Tanganyika. The controversy wasn't settled until around 1874 after Speke's death that it was discovered that he was correct.

        

Portrait of Richard Burton. 

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/burton_sir_richard.shtml

Portrait of John Speke. 

Source: https://www.npg.org.uk/

            The second part of the lecture was about the 'cold' expeditions. The one that I found the most interesting were the stories about Mount Everest. Before the initial climbing of Mt. Everest there were a couple preliminary expeditions that occurred, because they first had to find the best route to get there. So, photographers were sent out to take photos of possible routes, and they were late scrutinized until they found the best pathway to the top. In 1922 George Finch (an Australian) went out, but only reached 27,400 feet (not to the top but still great). Then in 1924 Englishman George Mallory  set out but disappeared. He was later discovered in 1999, his body was found 1000 feet from the top. It is still unknown if he ever made it to the top, if he did he would have been the first person to the top of Mt. Everest.

Portrait of George Finch, Australian explorer. 

Source:  http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP45/24-tool-user-down-insulation

Portrait of George Mallory. 

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240144/George-Mallory-died-climbing-Everest-His-Great-War-letters-reveal-life-lived.html

          Overall, my visit to the Royal Geographic Society was really interesting. The presentation gave an excellent overview of the history behind the society, and I enjoyed learning about the intriguing stories behind their artifacts.

 

Source: Royal Geographic Society. (2019). https://www.rgs.org/

The Barbican Library

            The first place we toured for the British Studies program was the Barbican Library. The library is located on the second floor of the Barbican Center within the City of London. The center is a multi-functional cultural arts center, that has multiple facilities including its own theatres, cafes, art exhibition space, housing, and other various shops. The buildings are an excellent example of modern “Brutalist” architecture, They were designed by Chamberlin, Powell & Bon during the 1950’s. Approval for them was given in 1959, and the construction began in 1963. However, it wasn't completed until 12 years later in 1975. As for the library, it wasn't until later that it opened its doors in 1982 as a public library to the City of London. Its services are available to anyone to join if they work, study or live in the City of London. 

                                    

                     It was a really impressive sight walking through the city to the Barbican. The buildings within the center are massive and made almost entirely of concrete, that has a hammered finish. It really resembles a modern  day fortress. Despite its brutal outer shell, the space is includes beautiful gardens that nicely contrast the architecture. There are hanging flowers from the balconies of residential buildings, a courtyard garden with a river, waterfall, and scattered gardens throughout the center. 

                                Our tour began at the entrance of the library, and an overview of the history of the center and the library was given. The entrance had exhibition space for artists to display and sell their work. There was a central desk at the front of the library that combined the information desk, issues, check out, and more. There was even one self-service checkout machine available for patrons. The librarian then discussed the media room, and how their prices are lower than Amazon rentals, thus they have a competing edge. They even make an effort to keep up with new releases, which most of the time streaming devices lack.

                                    Next, we toured the Music Library, which was quite impressive. It is actually the second largest music library in London. The first thing you see walking up to it is the large exhibition space that was filled with photographs of popular musicians of all genres. Next to this was the CD and DVD section, which had a large variety of genres. Then there was a doorway that led to a larger room filled with musical scores, books, journals and more. Its estimated there are about 16,000 music scores and there are even pianos available for patrons to practice on.

The music library. 

Shelves with music scores.

                                  The last area on the tour was the children's and teen library. Surprisingly they were grouped together servicing ages 1-14 years old. The children's section and play area near the front, and the teens area is along the back window. It was unusual that it was organized this way because they consider themselves a public library, but I do not have the demographics on the area so there maybe a reason behind this. This was a similar case for the young adult section. There was only one and a half book shelves dedicated to young adult literature. 

                                               

Teens section at the back of the children's library. 

                                               

Overall, the tour of the Barbican Library was pleasant and an excellent learning experience. I think that since it is located within a multi-cultural arts center it is a great library that caters to its patrons needs. It only slightly falls short as a public library, since it lacks appropriate space and content for teens and young adults by combining them with children.

Sources:
https://www.barbican.org.uk/your-visit/during-your-visit/library