Sitting in Nests 7/25

For our last day of class, we took the bus out to Blythe House, which houses collections from the British Museum, the Science Museum, and the Victoria and Albert. About 800 readers a year come to the Blythe House for research, and they’re working on making it more accessible and welcoming to the public. We were there to learn about the Beatrix Potter Archive from the V&A. We learned about the history of the V&A, and got to see one of the original log books, which records a loan of an object from the queen to the museum. 

We learned about the “Words & Things” department, which is responsible for archiving flat art, like the written word. They still can’t archive everything, like many of the emails that are lost each year, but they’re trying. They’re trying to come up with a way to catalogue everything, but right now they’re torn by so many standards.

Alexia taught us about the Archive of Art & Design, which collects archives from British companies, from high end fashion companies to Thomas Smith crackers. Each year, twice a year, they go out and gather advertisements off the street to add to the collection. They don’t collect fine art, which goes to the Tate or architecture, which has its own home. Instead, they focus on the small archives, which are donated at a rate of about 5-15 per year.

She showed us examples from the collection, including designs from the 1920s Lucille Ltd fashion design, and Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibits, which predicted the houses of the future.

The V&A has a collection of 100,000 children’s books, including the Beatrix Potter Archive. The archive includes over 2000 items, including first editions, water colors, original artwork, and journals. We were able to see a picture letter collection that proved to be a precursor to Peter Rabbit, and a sketchbook from 9 year old Beatrix.

We then got to hear from a prominent business man who has been researching one of the primary researchers of Beatrix Potter, Leslie Linder. Linder broke the code Potter wrote her journals in, opening up that information to researchers. He and his sister also compiled a bequest that helped supplement the Beatrix Potter archive. Andrew grew up near the Linders, and used his personal connection to help illustrate the relationship between Linder and Potter, who lived in the same area and lived quite similar lifestyles. Linder went on to publish Journal of Beatrix Potter and Artwork of the Writings Of Beatrix Potter.

That evening, we had the research symposium, where we got to hear what all of the other classes were up to for the whole month. I think we got the best experience. Then, a bunch of us went out for dinner, and ended up at a Nando’s. This Nando’s had these round tables in these weird giant wicker baskets they called the nests. We of course all piled into one nest and had a fabulous time. After eating, we decided to go to one of our favorite places and walked down to the Thames to drink cider and chat in the warm evening air. When I remember London, I hope that’s what I remember.