Category: Library and ArchivesPage 5 of 5

Information about the collections held in the RBGE Library and Archives

‘Dear Mary’ – An Echo of a Past Love from the RBGE Special Collections

View Post Among the hortus sicci (bound collections of pressed plant material) in the Rare Book Room of the RBGE Library is a volume containing samples of 34…

William Brand WS – First Treasurer of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh

The Library at the Botanics has recently acquired a new member of staff – or should that be an old member of staff?  Certainly an old member of…

Royal Roses

With Valentine’s Day occurring recently it may be apt to recount the story of a nineteenth century Royal visit to RBGE, and tell the stories behind two red roses named in honour of the…

A Quest of Flowers – The Ludlow and Sherriff Collection

In early November 2015 we were lucky enough to be asked if we’d take a postgraduate student studying Archives and Records Management at Glasgow University for a two…

Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour (1853-1922)

Born on the 31st March 1853, the son of John Hutton Balfour who was Regius Keeper at RBGE between 1845 and 1879, Isaac Bayley Balfour grew up up in very close contact…

George Forrest’s camera work

The Scots plant collector George Forrest (1873-1932) is now known as a talented photographer, though he didn’t necessarily enjoy the process of using a cumbersome glass plate camera,…

The Letters of George Forrest

Pauline Maclean, an RBGE Volunteer, writes: “… By now you must be aware of the fact that I am no writer. As a practical worker I am a…

Forrest’s Rhododendron Giant

Plant Collector George Forrest (1873-1932) introduced over 300 new rhododendron species to Britain but one in particular dwarfed all of these, Rhododendron protistum, which is represented in our…

Figure in Victorian photograph identified as James McNab

It was difficult to spot there even was a figure in a Victorian photo of the RBGE Rock Garden which was transferred to the Archives last week, and…

George Forrest (1873-1932)

Let me tell you about a hero of mine, and the focus of one of the most requested collections stored in the Archives of the Royal Botanic Garden…

Commemorating the First World War – our Stories

To mark the centenary of the First World War, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has created a poppy meadow at our Edinburgh garden. The meadow, located on the…

Mystery stone

Have you ever wondered what the stone situated to the west of the beech hedge at RBGE is?  Have you even noticed it’s there? The lump of red…

Happy 100th Birthday to the RBGE Guild

2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the RBGE Guild. The primary role of the Guild was to be an agent of social intercourse and support…

Edinburgh’s Garden: Past to Present

The new display in the Library Foyer provides a whistle-stop tour of the history of the Garden with illustrations from the Library and Archive collections of plants that…

George Don sr. (1764-1814)

George Don spent much of his life exploring the corries and glens of Angus and further afield to Arran, Ben Nevis and Skye.  His plant collections in the…