Unlocking the Archives, the RGS, London
Steve Brace, the head of information services at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) calls it a 'learning centre', the receptionist calls it a 'learned society', and the press release calls it a 'study centre'. But they all agree on one thing: the £7.1m development at the RGS isn't a museum.
And yet the collections of the RGS are of museum quality. Founded in 1830, for the advancement of geographical science, the RGS holds the world's largest private map collections, with more than one million maps, as well as 500,000 photographs, 1,500 volumes and one kilometre of documents. The earliest map dates from 1482, the earliest photograph from 1830.
The photographic collection includes Frank Hurley's lyrical photographs of Ernest Shackleton's expedition to the South Pole. It also has a breathtaking collection of artefacts donated by exploration's hall of fame: Charles Darwin's pocket sextant, Ranulph Fiennes' polar sledge, Shackleton's Burberry helmet and Henry Stanley's boots.
Until recently, this collection was only accessible to the RGS Fellows and valid researchers, but the past few years have seen a seismic shift in the RGS's world view. In 2002, it received a grant of £5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) towards its Unlocking the Archives project, which aimed to preserve the collections of the RGS, provide public access and develop the educational value of the collection. The project represents an opening of the RGS intellectually, physically and visibly.
The RGS engaged the architectural practice Studio Downie to refurbish part of the early-20th-century building, Lowther Lodge, to provide educational spaces, and to design a sympathetic modern extension to house an exhibition space, a library and storage for the collections.
The result is an elegant glass and concrete two-storey structure that features an exhibition pavilion on the ground floor, with a 70-seat library and archive storage areas in the basement beneath, skilfully landscaped into the gardens.
The masterstroke has been to reorient the entire building away from the traffic of Kensington Gore and to create a new glazed entrance on Exhibition Road. This reorientation is a visible sign of the RGS's move towards greater public access, and offers intriguing possibilities for closer relationships with its visitor-friendly neighbours: the Science Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum.
This potential was further enhanced by the appointment of Neil Cossons, the former director of the Science Museum, as the president of the RGS in 2003.
Membership of the RGS has been broadened to include anyone who can afford the £70 annual membership fee; access to the library is free to RGS members and education users, but otherwise has a daily charge of £10. The RGS catalogue can now be searched online and a new education website offers a variety of national curriculum-related materials.
The RGS has also been forging new partnerships, with the National Archives, as one of the partners in the NOF-funded Moving Here project (www.movinghere.org.uk), which offers free online access to original items illustrating the migration of Jewish, South Asian, Irish and Caribbean communities to England over the past 200 years. As part of its contribution, the RGS has scanned 3,500 of its early-19th-century collection of Caribbean and Asian photographs.
To be eligible for HLF funding, the new scheme needed to offer public access. The resulting exhibition pavilion is the weakest part of the development. Exhibitions are a new venture for the RGS. It intends to mount three in-house exhibitions a year and to hire the space out. The first exhibition, which has over-engineered mobile display panels, offers an introduction to geography.
Although there are some striking images, modern and historic, it is ultimately disappointing, if only because none of the RGS's unique collections are on view. The extensive media coverage of the opening of the new wing made much of the RGS's collection of iconic objects.
The slave shackles, which David Livingstone used to illustrate the evils of slavery, made an appearance on Richard and Judy, but these and other items are not on public view and are only accessible by appointment.
The RGS has achieved much through the Unlocking the Archives project, and, most importantly, has secured the future for a unique collection of international importance. It has made radical advances in the way it interacts with the public.
But the opening of the project should be a beginning not an end. There is still work to be done. Extending the opening hours of the library beyond 10am-5pm Monday to Friday should be one priority.
Working towards establishing an engaging exhibition programme, possibly with the help of its near neighbours, and learning from the example of the British Library should be another.
Finally it needs to learn to manage visitor expectation - during my visit, two people were turned away who had come to see Livingstone's shackles - and to review the possibility of putting on display some of its treasures of the history of exploration.
Jane Weeks is a museum consultant
Steve Brace, the head of information services at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) calls it a 'learning centre', the receptionist calls it a 'learned society', and the press release calls it a 'study centre'. But they all agree on one thing: the £7.1m development at the RGS isn't a museum.
And yet the collections of the RGS are of museum quality. Founded in 1830, for the advancement of geographical science, the RGS holds the world's largest private map collections, with more than one million maps, as well as 500,000 photographs, 1,500 volumes and one kilometre of documents. The earliest map dates from 1482, the earliest photograph from 1830.
The photographic collection includes Frank Hurley's lyrical photographs of Ernest Shackleton's expedition to the South Pole. It also has a breathtaking collection of artefacts donated by exploration's hall of fame: Charles Darwin's pocket sextant, Ranulph Fiennes' polar sledge, Shackleton's Burberry helmet and Henry Stanley's boots.
Until recently, this collection was only accessible to the RGS Fellows and valid researchers, but the past few years have seen a seismic shift in the RGS's world view. In 2002, it received a grant of £5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) towards its Unlocking the Archives project, which aimed to preserve the collections of the RGS, provide public access and develop the educational value of the collection. The project represents an opening of the RGS intellectually, physically and visibly.
The RGS engaged the architectural practice Studio Downie to refurbish part of the early-20th-century building, Lowther Lodge, to provide educational spaces, and to design a sympathetic modern extension to house an exhibition space, a library and storage for the collections.
The result is an elegant glass and concrete two-storey structure that features an exhibition pavilion on the ground floor, with a 70-seat library and archive storage areas in the basement beneath, skilfully landscaped into the gardens.
The masterstroke has been to reorient the entire building away from the traffic of Kensington Gore and to create a new glazed entrance on Exhibition Road. This reorientation is a visible sign of the RGS's move towards greater public access, and offers intriguing possibilities for closer relationships with its visitor-friendly neighbours: the Science Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum.
This potential was further enhanced by the appointment of Neil Cossons, the former director of the Science Museum, as the president of the RGS in 2003.
Membership of the RGS has been broadened to include anyone who can afford the £70 annual membership fee; access to the library is free to RGS members and education users, but otherwise has a daily charge of £10. The RGS catalogue can now be searched online and a new education website offers a variety of national curriculum-related materials.
The RGS has also been forging new partnerships, with the National Archives, as one of the partners in the NOF-funded Moving Here project (www.movinghere.org.uk), which offers free online access to original items illustrating the migration of Jewish, South Asian, Irish and Caribbean communities to England over the past 200 years. As part of its contribution, the RGS has scanned 3,500 of its early-19th-century collection of Caribbean and Asian photographs.
To be eligible for HLF funding, the new scheme needed to offer public access. The resulting exhibition pavilion is the weakest part of the development. Exhibitions are a new venture for the RGS. It intends to mount three in-house exhibitions a year and to hire the space out. The first exhibition, which has over-engineered mobile display panels, offers an introduction to geography.
Although there are some striking images, modern and historic, it is ultimately disappointing, if only because none of the RGS's unique collections are on view. The extensive media coverage of the opening of the new wing made much of the RGS's collection of iconic objects.
The slave shackles, which David Livingstone used to illustrate the evils of slavery, made an appearance on Richard and Judy, but these and other items are not on public view and are only accessible by appointment.
The RGS has achieved much through the Unlocking the Archives project, and, most importantly, has secured the future for a unique collection of international importance. It has made radical advances in the way it interacts with the public.
But the opening of the project should be a beginning not an end. There is still work to be done. Extending the opening hours of the library beyond 10am-5pm Monday to Friday should be one priority.
Working towards establishing an engaging exhibition programme, possibly with the help of its near neighbours, and learning from the example of the British Library should be another.
Finally it needs to learn to manage visitor expectation - during my visit, two people were turned away who had come to see Livingstone's shackles - and to review the possibility of putting on display some of its treasures of the history of exploration.
Jane Weeks is a museum consultant
