New for 2023: RGS (with IBG) archives 1482-2010

We are excited to begin the new year by presenting you with the archives of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) covering 1482-2010.

What’s covered

Funded by research funding from our success in the last Research Excellence Framework exercise, this archive of historical geography is extensive and includes:

• Maps and atlases
• Charts and plans
• Expedition reports
• Fieldnotes
• Correspondence and diaries
• Grey literature: publications by organisations and societies, such as reports (annual, research, technical, project, etc.), working papers, white papers, evaluations and other documents that are rarely included in searchable online resources
• Photographs, artwork and illustrations
• Journal manuscripts (journal articles submitted for publication)
• Photographs
• Proceedings, lectures, and ephemera

You can easily choose to limit your search to photographs, manuscripts (articles), monographs (books and reports), photograph

Special collections included

Over 100 special collections are included, including:

• Everest Collection
• David Livingstone Collection
• Sir Ernest Shackleton Collection
• Stanley Collection
• Younghusband Collection
• Speke Collection
• Gertrude Bell Collection
• Charlotte – the Franklin Expedition – including a portfolio of newspaper cuttings covering the expedition

Who might find this archive useful

The collection supports a wide variety of interdisciplinary areas from the Humanities to Design.

Interdisciplinary histories

Including many primary historical sources relating to:

• Anthropology
• Area studies
• Colonial, post-colonial & decolonisation studies – including trade, commerce, law and policy
• Development studies
• Historical & cultural geography
• Historical sociology

Earth and environmental sciences

• Environmental degradation
• Geology

Social sciences

• Human geography
• Identity, gender & ethnic studies
• International relations

Design and visual arts

• Cartography and visualizations

Explore the collections

Click here to access the RGS (with IBG) archives together with our existing free archives from the British Association for the Advancement of Science. A separate catalogue record linking separately to the RGS (with IBG) archives is coming soon.

Image credit: Tony Fischer