• Gentiana verna, Harold Stuart Thompson, 1903

    Object of the Month: Lucy of Teesdale

    This month I am cheating and choosing three objects for the price of one!  Since we took responsibility for the University Herbarium a couple of years ago, we have constantly been unearthing new treasures.  The archive volunteers have been working on two collections of objects which came to us with the Herbarium – a box

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  • A picnic set up with bread, cheese and fruit
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    The Great British Picnic

    Summer has finally joined us and what better summer activity than going for a picnic? But did you know where the tradition of picnics came from? As I watched the skies darkening last Sunday I was hastily doing a mental note of how many family members I could fit round the dining room table to

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  • Moor Pool Estate, 1916

    Sustainability and wellbeing: Celebrating International Museums Day 2023

    International Museums Day falls on 18 May this year, and the theme is sustainability and wellbeing.  As a botanic garden, Winterbourne has a huge role to play in promoting biodiversity and sustainable horticultural practices, and the site as a whole contributes to the wellbeing of University students and staff, visitors and volunteers. However, the themes

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  • Princess Elizabeth, 1944

    Mink stoles, feathers and coal dust: 100 years of royal visits to GKN

    The spectacle of a royal visit to an industrial site can often feel rather awkward, with an expensively dressed monarch cutting an incongruous figure amid the “dark Satanic mills”. However, royal visits play an important role in validating the importance of a particular industry to the nation’s economy. The Coronation of King Charles III presents

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  • Image of a Blotter.

    Object of the month: Margaret Nettlefold’s blotter

    Our object of the month for April is Margaret Nettlefold’s wooden ink blotter. Our curator, Henrietta, tell us more about this special object.  Writing a letter in the Edwardian period was, literally, a ‘hands-on’ process involving a fountain pen, an inkwell, and blotting paper. If you touched the written text before the ink was dry

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