Going beyond the botanical in Kew’s Persian collections
Learn about the social and cultural histories tucked away in our Persian collections, as displayed in our new exhibition in the Library & Archives Reading Room.
By Shabnam Balouch and Isabel Lauterjung, our Library & Archives hold one of the world’s largest and most significant botanical collections. But did you know that they contain another world of cultural, linguistic and social histories that go beyond the botanical?
Persia Reimagined: From Herbarium to Heritage
Our Library & Archives Reading Room display explores these stories in our Persian materials through notebooks, journals, publications and botanical illustrations.
You may be wondering why we hold these materials in the first place. Our collections frequently correspond with British political and economic interests: for example, we hold a lot of materials relating to colonial India.
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Author's summary: Kew's Persian collections hold more than botanical history.
- Notebooks
- Journals
- Publications
- Botanical illustrations