Information and empire: record-keeping at Kew Gardens as instrument and legacy of the British imperial project

Empire and archives are intimately linked. Archival forms and record-keeping practices reflect and inform systems of governance; record-keeping was central to attempts by imperial powers to maintain administrative control. The Archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) Kew are of significance to the history of global botany and in addressing questions of biodiversity loss, climate change, and environmental sustainability. This project will critically evaluate the history of the Kew Gardens Archives between 1841 and 1958 to understand record-keeping at Kew as both instrument and legacy of the British imperial project. By employing participatory research methods with historically impacted communities, the research will enable new, more diverse histories of Kew Gardens and British imperialism.

The project will produce the first history of the contexts and processes which created the RBG Kew Archives but, more importantly, will be a major critical history of a significant institutional archive, with the potential to further expand this important field of study. By employing a participatory research approach, new knowledge and community perspectives will be included within the history of the archive, reflecting on hidden traces and absences. The project will contribute to RBG Kew's public engagement activities which highlight Kew's changing history and re-interpretation.

Research questions
1. What can we learn about Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) Kew's involvement in the British Empire from studying the evolution of its record-keeping between 1841 and 1958?

2. What can the history of record-keeping reveal of the range of actors who contributed to the making and re-making of the archive over time, including women, subalterns at home and in the colonies, and Indigenous communities? How can those roles be better represented in future descriptions and uses of the archive?

3. How does the original arrangement of the records reflect RBG Kew's gathering of and access...