💫New Blog Post!💫
Our last blog for July's theme #EYANature explores the archives of the Natural History Museum. Check it out to discover more about their fascinating collections 🌱
@nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social #ExploreYourArchive
www.exploreyourarchive.org/a-cathedral-...
💫New Blog Post! 💫
Follow the link to find out about the archives of the National Trust for Scotland, to round off our July theme of #EYANature 🌱🌳🌷
@n-t-s.bsky.social #ExploreYourArchive
www.exploreyourarchive.org/nature-beaut...
New in our #LocalStudies library, Joe Shute’s ‘Forecast - A Diary Of The Lost Seasons’ examines how British culture, memory and identity are based on the folklore, rituals and customs inspired by the times of year which are increasingly losing their distinctness due to climate change.
#EYANature
Sketch in coloured crayons with title 'Stanton Moor'. It shows the moor and several roads to it's west, including the locations of the villages of Elton and Youlgreave.
Sketch in coloured crayons with title 'Hope to Castleton', showing various features around Hope and Casleton, including Peak Cavern.
Very neatly written text in a school copybook, with title 'Hope to Castleton'. The first sentence reads: "Hope stands in a basin-like valley which is surrounded by high hills."
These sketches of Stanton Moor and the area around Hope were made by Alice Stanley in c1930 when she was 13. They are from her school summer camp’s ‘Nature note and sketch’ books. Such neat handwriting, an archivist’s dream!
#EYANature #1930s #history
Illustrated tiger with cartoonish features, lying down with a friendly expression on a vintage, slightly worn paper background.
A folder with text about a tiger. It humorously describes a tiger's life and its diet.
🚨Big Cat Alert!🚨🐯
You never know what you will find stalking in your archive when you are repackaging collections.
All folders should feature a lovely animal and some fun facts!
#archives #EYANature #cat #tiger
The preface for the book 'What the countryman wants to know' by Fred Kitchen dated December 1947.
Page 131 of the book 'What the countryman wants to know' with chapter 110 'Which duck nests in a burrow?'
Which duck nests in a burrow? What is the connection between cats and clover? Just two questions answered in the book ‘What the countryman wants to know’ co-written by Bolsover author Fred Kitchen in 1948. Find a copy in our #LocalStudies library. Now, just what is the doctor-fish?
#EYANature
A group of young children in a field of cabbages with a farmer and Miss Chattaway.
Eliza Chattaway of Redlands School, Reading, was a pioneer in teaching nature study. Here she is showing her pupils a field of cabbages in winter, [c.1910-1911]. Find out more about her on our blog here: bit.ly/45fZTbk #EYANature
Pencil sketch of countryside scene, someone walking by a river in a meadow.
Pencil sketch of a very old oak tree, no canopy.
Old ruin overgrown and partly covered in foliage.
Cliff descending into the sea, with a few boats dotted on the water.
July's #ExploreYourArchive theme is #EYANature. Our images here are #drawings (c.1890s) by pioneer neurologist, Sir William Gowers, author of Manual of Diseases of the Nervous System, aka ‘The Bible of Neurology’. More about “Gowers” can be found in Queen Square Archives tinyurl.com/2j3av656
Pencil sketch on tracing paper of a goose. Written underneath is the name of the goose, which looks like 'prene' but isn't clear.
Pencil sketch on tracing paper of a goose. Written underneath is "The Grey-legged goose".
Pencil sketch on tracing paper of a goose. Written underneath is "The Canada goose".
Pencil sketch on tracing paper of a goose. Written underneath is "The Egyptian goose".
These sketches of geese were made by Vauncey Harpur Crewe in 1869. He is most likely to have seen them wandering around the Calke Abbey estate. We can't quite make out the name of the first one - does anyone know which type of goose it could be?
#19thCentury #EYANature
@themerl.bsky.social
This late C19th painting of birds on silk is by Wang Guochen. There are 12 beautiful folios in the volume #EYANature
digital.soas.ac.uk/AA00000636/0...
Flower photographed by anthropologist, Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf in the Apatani Valley, 1944 #EYANature digital.soas.ac.uk/LOADI03563/0...
This beautiful image of cattle crossing the Ouree River, Nigeria, was taken by David Godfrey, 1961. Godfrey was a pioneering medical researcher in the field of tropical diseases, particularly sleeping sickness. #EYANature ow.ly/reSO50WrIiI
![Shown here is a postcard titled 'Hampton, nr. Herne Bay', published by Fred C. Palmer at Tower Studios, Sea Front, Herne Bay, n.d. [c.1911?] (ref. HEB 741)
The turn of the 20th century brought no respite for the residents of Hampton-on-Sea. The merciless hydraulic action of the waves combined with severe weather episodes, such as the Great Storm of 1897, continued to scour the soft, permeable London Clay upon which the fishing hamlet stood. Between 1909-1911 the properties of Hernecliffe Gardens were razed, an action taken by the council owing to the terrace’s increasingly precarious foundations. With no hope of a stable future for the settlement, it was abandoned by 1916 and entirely consumed by the sea in 1921.
What remains of the ill-fated fishing community can be counted on one hand: namely remnants of the pier and failed sea defences, visible at low tide; and the Hampton Inn pub, which can be seen in the background of this postcard – a lone survivor above sea level.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:o3vof7rjobhzoxvub42zxtot/bafkreigj6pmbhxkjdmddqlnfjwsdaosuziqwnmgw5p5gfmikp3b5vb4vzi)
Shown here is a postcard titled 'Hampton, nr. Herne Bay', published by Fred C. Palmer at Tower Studios, Sea Front, Herne Bay, n.d. [c.1911?] (ref. HEB 741) The turn of the 20th century brought no respite for the residents of Hampton-on-Sea. The merciless hydraulic action of the waves combined with severe weather episodes, such as the Great Storm of 1897, continued to scour the soft, permeable London Clay upon which the fishing hamlet stood. Between 1909-1911 the properties of Hernecliffe Gardens were razed, an action taken by the council owing to the terrace’s increasingly precarious foundations. With no hope of a stable future for the settlement, it was abandoned by 1916 and entirely consumed by the sea in 1921. What remains of the ill-fated fishing community can be counted on one hand: namely remnants of the pier and failed sea defences, visible at low tide; and the Hampton Inn pub, which can be seen in the background of this postcard – a lone survivor above sea level.
Due to the area's geological makeup, the hamlet succumbed to coastal erosion and was lost to the sea by 1921. On the stretch of land shown here once stood Hernecliffe Gardens terrace, home to those working for the fisheries.
🔎 To learn more, click ALT
#EYANature
☟ See HEB 741
Front cover of the book 'Wildlife of the Pennine Hills. Moorland - Limestone - Grassland - Woodland - Blanket - Bog - Upland heath' by Doug Kennedy. It features various full colour photographs of different plants and animals.
Discover what differentiates wildlife found in the bogs and moorlands of the Derbyshire Peakland from the fauna in other upland areas along the spine of England in Doug Kennedy’s ‘Wildlife of the Pennine Hills.’ Find a copy in our #LocalStudies library.
#EYANature #LocalHistory
![Shown here is an engraving titled ‘Hampton Oyster Fisheries nr. Herne Bay’ by J. S. and Co., n.d. [mid 19th century] (ref. KHLC-IMG/PR/1/HEB/21)
Before the arrival of the oyster fishing companies in the 1860s, a community existed at Hampton-on-Sea residing in crudely assembled wooden huts made from wreck material. The establishment of the Herne Bay, Hampton and Reculver Oyster Fishery Company in 1864 saw the construction of a 300-metre pier, terraced housing to accommodate staff (visible at the far left of this engraving), and a tramway to transport oysters inland. However, the decline of the oyster industry in the 1870s left the area available for redevelopment.
In 1879, land agents and developers attempted to transform the site into a coastal resort. Plots were sold, amenities planned, and ambitions to establish a thriving seaside suburb took shape. However, the area was low-lying and vulnerable to coastal erosion, a problem that had been long known but somewhat overlooked...](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:o3vof7rjobhzoxvub42zxtot/bafkreigd4zutary737x5wjdgcmjdu26xwhzaifomfh4opmxgwft4ohj4kq)
Shown here is an engraving titled ‘Hampton Oyster Fisheries nr. Herne Bay’ by J. S. and Co., n.d. [mid 19th century] (ref. KHLC-IMG/PR/1/HEB/21) Before the arrival of the oyster fishing companies in the 1860s, a community existed at Hampton-on-Sea residing in crudely assembled wooden huts made from wreck material. The establishment of the Herne Bay, Hampton and Reculver Oyster Fishery Company in 1864 saw the construction of a 300-metre pier, terraced housing to accommodate staff (visible at the far left of this engraving), and a tramway to transport oysters inland. However, the decline of the oyster industry in the 1870s left the area available for redevelopment. In 1879, land agents and developers attempted to transform the site into a coastal resort. Plots were sold, amenities planned, and ambitions to establish a thriving seaside suburb took shape. However, the area was low-lying and vulnerable to coastal erosion, a problem that had been long known but somewhat overlooked...
Hampton was a hamlet which expanded in 1864 at the hands of the oyster fisheries of the Greater Thames Estuary. However, the sea would prove to be a blessing and a curse for this short-lived coastal community…
🔎 To learn more, click ALT
#EYANature
☟ See KHLC-IMG/PR/1/HEB/21
This month’s Explore Your Archive theme is Nature. #EYANature Here’s a video about a small group of nature diaries kept by former Bangor University student Dr Paul Whalley, which he compiled between 1944 and 2000.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVHF...
Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is Isabel Jane Crewe's travel diary: a tour of Scotland preserved within the pages, plants of Scotland preserved between the pages. These were picked in Staffa and Iona in 1853. See our blog for more from the diary: recordoffice.wordpress.com/2025/07/03/t...
#EYANature
yellow magazine cover with an image of a cheese plant and another green leafy plant in red pots
Architectural Review, special issue 'Plants Indoors', May 1952
Cover designed by FHK Henrion
FHK Henrion Archive
#EYANature @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social
A watercolour painting featuring a cottage, vegetation, and what might be a fort.
This miniature watercolour painting, allegedly by Florence Nightingale, is kept in the RCN Archive. Looking at the plants and lefthand building, it may depict an Indian rural scene. Explore the RCN Archive online buff.ly/OabZ4P4
#EYANature #ExploreYourArchive #RCNArchive #HistNursing #ArtOfNursing
A close-up detail of a well dressing showing a swallow swooping over fields in shades of yellow and green with red poppies in the foreground. You can see that the picture is made from petals and seed heads.
It's well dressing season - a tradition unique to Derbyshire and the Peak District where wells are decorated with pictures made from natural materials. Here’s a detail from one in Ashford in the Water in 1987 – a glimpse of nature made from nature.
#PhotoFriday #EYANature
A black and white postcard showing a small lake surrounded by mature trees and bushes. There is a white stone cross on a small island near the far bank of the lake. The words 'St Mary's Priory, Princethorpe' are printed in red on the lower left of the postcard, and the word 'Switzerland' is printed in red italics on the lower right.
The small lake in our College grounds was formed in the early 1830s, when clay was dug out to make the bricks used in building St Mary’s Priory.
As the area developed its own natural beauty, it reminded the nuns of an Alpine landscape – hence the name ‘Switzerland’!
#EYANature #ExploreYourArchive
Morning in Epping Forest, illustration from 'London's Epping Forest' by James A Brimble.
Morning in Epping Forest, from 'London's Epping Forest' by James A Brimble. #EYANature @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social
pressed specimen of Delesseria sanguinea
pressed specimen of Phycodrys rubens
pressed specimen of Phycodrys rubens
These beautiful red seaweed specimens can be found in our Herbarium @thembauk.bsky.social. We have more than 4,000 specimens in the collection, dating as far back as 1849
#EYANature #ExploreYourArchive #library #archive #ScienceArchive #Herbarium #seaweed
A stack of three volumes with different covers.
A page from one of the diaries, showing two drawings of a circle next to each other, each one with part of its area shaded in. The caption is "Diagram showing the greater obscuration of the sun's disc on Apr. 17, 1912 (as seen in England) than on Aug. 30, 1905."
Diary entry dated Thursday 10 July July 1902. The first line reads "The weather has become very miserable and unseasonable again".
Diary entry dated 1 January 1916. The year 1916 is written in large numbers at the top of the page with two small watercolour sketches on either side.
These are just a few of the fabulous diaries of John B. Wallis, which contain over 50 years of weather and nature observations. John regularly contributed articles to local papers under the byline 'the Rambling Naturalist'.
#EYANature #history #20thCentury #weather
Foxcub by the sundial in the garden at Vestry House Museum, Walthamstow, 1994. 📷 ©Vestry House Museum, from collection available in our Searchroom.
Foxcub by the sundial in the garden at Vestry House Museum, Walthamstow, 1994. 📷 ©Vestry House Museum, from collection available in our Searchroom. #EYANature #ExploreYourArchive @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social @araireland.bsky.social
Manuscript nature notes in Chingford, page from Chingford Literary & Social Guild magazine, Feb 1908.
Photograph of man with robin, above manuscript verse on the Legend of the Robin, from Chingford Literary & Social Guild magazine, Feb 1908.
Nature notes in Chingford, with verse on the Legend of the Robin, from Chingford Literary & Social Guild magazine, Feb 1908. #EYANature #ExploreYourArchive @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social @araireland.bsky.social
Watercolour sketch in various shades of grey of a large country house with surrounding landscape.
A page full of pen and ink sketches of cows seen from different angles.
Page with two small watercolour sketches in various shades of grey showing landscapes with a river, trees, bridges and cows.
Pen and ink sketch of a small boat on a river with a man walking besdies it on the tow path.
Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is a small sketchbook by John Glover (1767-1849), who became president of the Old Water Colour Society in 1807 before moving to Tasmania in 1831, where he became known as "the father of Australian landscape painting".
#EYANature #CowAppreciationDay #art
Queen Square water pump (1870) from a watercolour drawing by Miss Louisa Twining.
Queen Square Garden view to South West (1870) from a watercolour drawing by Miss Louisa Twining.
This month's #ExploreYourArchive theme is #EYANature. Today’s images are watercolour #drawings of Queen Square Garden (c.1870) by philanthropist, poor-law reformer and resident, Louisa Twining. More images can be viewed by searching “Twining” in Queen Square Archives tinyurl.com/y83cjr44
A square graphic with a teal background. At the top there is text that says, “Teaching notes of The Buttercup c1912.” In the centre of the image there is a photograph of the teaching notes. It shows a page spread with the left page showing a small illustration of a buttercup in the top left corner and the right page showing the teaching notes. In the bottom left corner of the image there is the UWTSD logo and in the right corner there is the UWTSD library logo.
Back in c.1912, those training to be teachers would cover a wide range of topics in their classes including many on #nature. Take a look at these notes on Buttercups.
#UWTSDlib #ExploreYourArchive #EYANature
This month’s #ExploreYourArchive | #CuardaighDoChartlann theme is #EYANature | #EYADúlra & we want to see all your archives relating to this theme! Don’t forget to 🏷️ @araireland.bsky.social & @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social in your posts & stories! 🌳🌿🍂🌾🍃🍄
