RHS

The Lindley Library archive collections include the official archive of the Royal Horticultural Society, founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, and the collected archives of many individuals and horticultural organisations.

The RHS archive captures the development of the Society and its gardens, as well as its role supporting gardeners, such as the inmates of the Ruhleben Internment Camp in the First World War, and details its plant collecting activities.

Collected archives include those of plant collectors, breeders, nurserymen, garden designers, amateur gardeners and many more. Key archives include papers of William Robinson, E.A. Bowles, Gertrude Jekyll, Constance Spry, Russell Page and Roy Lancaster. Amateur gardeners’ letters, diaries and notebooks contribute to our understanding of the evolution of the art, science and craft of gardening.

Together these valuable collections trace the development of gardening and its impact on our landscape and lives.

Catalogues are available via the Archives Hub: https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/locations/c3d1e5c9-1ae5-33e6-acc4-cce7dc1d075b.
Please send enquiries to library@rhs.org.uk.