Library & Archive blog

We have all heard the saying ‘clothes maketh the man’. Perhaps it’s doubly true for women – especially those women who disguised themselves in order to run away to sea.

This month we investigate a small notebook from the Journal and Diary collection (RMG reference: JOD/325), kept by Thomas Edward Chilvers from the time he was serving in the Merchant Navy onboard the ship Empire Baffin. The Journal and Diary collection offers a fascinating insight into life at sea in the Royal and Merchant Navy, the fields of exploration and leisure activities in the words of those who contributed to laying the foundations of Britain’s maritime heritage.

Did the polluted waters of the Thames contribute to Britain's worst inland waterway tragedy?

The Caird Library and Archive has several primary and secondary materials relating to marine artists. One of the highlights of our collection is the illustrated logbooks of Nicholas Pocock (1740-1821).

Last year has been a strange one for staff of the Caird Library as it has been for everyone. One of many things I have been missing from ‘normal’ life is the privilege of being able to travel and explore the world. Luckily for me, I can access the stories and images contained in our vast collection of travel journals to fill the void! I have chosen just one to share with you this month, written by a man who covered lots of ground…

A brief look at the manuscript collection of Wilhelmine Ganz, a woman born in Berlin a few years before the unification of Germany, but who spent much of her life living in the neighborhoods of Greenwich and Lewisham, and forged a strong connection with the Royal Naval College.

In this blog we look at a practical astronomical work written by the husband and wife team of Walter and Annie Maunder. The Maunders worked in the Solar Department of the Royal Observatory Greenwich in the early 1890s.