The Royal Geographical Society

 On Thursday, June 20 our group had the pleasure of visiting two cultural heritage centers in London. After leaving Middle Temple Library, we made our way back to Kensington. There, our group was allowed access to the Royal Geographical Society. This private society was first formed as a social club in 1830, however it soon became serious in nature, with the first journal being put out only a year later. 

The RGS has had the same mission statement since inception: "Advancing Geographical Knowledge." This statement allows for wide interpretation, and the function of the RGS has changed repeatedly over the years. First acting as a social 'geographical club' where members would dine and swap stories of their travels, the club soon moved toward formalities. After the first journal was published in 1831, the society received royal assent to give out gold medals to explorers and those they felt aligned with the mission statement. Not long after, the RGS began supporting expeditions. 

The society's expedition focus had several major foci over the years. The Northwest passage was among the first, and items concerning the voyages taken to trek the Northwest passage remain preserved in the society. After this, the next big push was finding the sources of the Nile. The next push was for Antarctica, for which many artifacts remain in the society. The final big push was for expeditions up Mount Everest. While the RGS was not successful in making Britain the first nation to reach the earlier goals, they did assist in getting the distinction of the first nation to the top of Everest. 

After these expeditions, the RGS changed course and focused instead on documentation, preservation, and research. Our guide for this excursion, Lee Rodrigues, talked us through the history of expeditions and the RGS, often showcasing various resources to add value. He was clear from the start that the term "discover" in all its forms would be used frequently, and thus started us off with a definition to keep in mind: Discovery in this context means, "the first documentation of part of the world to white Europeans."

Lee led not only gave a concise and insightful lecture on the history of the RGS and British exploration, he also led us into storage spaces to see what was preserved and how. I was struck by how similar this all was to other archives I have been in, with storage items boxed tightly and larger items placed wherever there is room. Several of the artifacts I wanted a full history on, but I knew both that we lacked time and that I was unlikely to get full answers due to lack of documentation. Even so, I really enjoyed this visit and am grateful for the chance to see a bit of the RGS's five collections, both on display and in storage. I know for certain that we were only able to glimpse a fraction of the wonders preserved within! 

Below are a few images from our behind-the-scenes tour of the three preservation storage spaces. All images are credit to the RGS-IGB, or Royal Geographical Society - Institute of British Geographers, and may not be shared. 

Maps storage

Many larger volumes of texts were laid on their sides for preservation.

Images and loose papers were cared for in boxes.