Royal Geographic Society. Tuesday. 26 June 2018.

Tuesday. 26 June 2018.
Royal Geographic Society
https://www.rgs.org/

Before our visit, I did not realize that I was in any way familiar with the Royal Geographic Society.  As LIS learned about the organization I kept hearing recognizable names of explorers such as: Henry Stanley, David Livingstone, Ernest Shackleton, George Mallory, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.  We learned that the RGS was founded in 1830 by a group of wealthy men who liked to travel. The society took a radical step promoting Geography as separate and distinct from other scientific disciplines.  The purpose of the RGS was to go out into the field and gather data and geographical information. This information would be used to create maps and drawings and thus disseminate the information to its members and the world. The RGS was known for sponsoring major expeditions such as: the Northwest Passage, an African mission to determine the source of the Nile River, crossing Antarctica and scaling Mount Everest.

Eugene Ray, Principal Librarian and the staff of ten (eight full-time and two part-time employees) have their work cut out for them. According to the RGS website, the collection includes cultural objects, scientific instruments and personal items of the world's greatest explorers. Over two million items are held including: 150,000 books, 1 million sheets of maps and charts, 3,000 atlases, 40 globes, 1,000 gazetteers, 500,000 items of photographs, artwork, negatives & lantern slides, 800 journal titles, 4,500 expedition reports and more than 100 amateur and professional films. These items are priceless and create a challenge for archiving, preservation and storage. Consider the range of materials, the irregular sizes and the sheer volume of items for which they are responsible. The library is still active today and continues to select items to add to the collection. Some of the collection is digitized--check out the picture library for some amazing photographs. http://images.rgs.org/

Eugene Ray, Principal Librarian @ the Royal Geographic Society telling us about explorer George Mallory's life and his climbing boot worn during an 1924 Mount Everest expedition and recovered from his body in 1999, perfectly preserved.

Among the treasures on this table are hats from Henry Stanley and David Livingstone. Stanley, journalist and African explorer was sent to find the missing missionary and explorer Livingstone who disappeared while searching for the source of the Nile River. Stanley found Livingstone and uttered the famous phrase, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?".

Documents, scientific instruments, drawings, maps, photographs (and more!) from RGS sponsored expeditions of 
the Northwest Passage, the search for the source of the Nile in Africa, Antarctica, and Mount Everest.

Lucky librarians able to see the priceless artifacts from the Royal Geographic Society.