Branch Out | Archive Open Day: Preserve your own piece of history

This Archive Open Day is part of the Garden Museum's new Branch Out programme, a series of free events and activities exploring gardening, art, floristry, plant science, history, design, and more! Join us on Thursdays: no need to book, just show up.

Get hands-on with history and explore the hidden stories from our Archive of Garden Design. Participants will have the chance to ask questions to our fantastic team of archivists and delve into not-seen-before materials, including the garden plans of Russell Page, Beth Chatto’s travel diaries, designs from Elphick’s Seed Archive, and other treasures from the collection.

Attendees are invited to bring an item or a small selection of their own materials such as a floral postcard, garden photos, an old seed packet, or other garden ephemera. From this, our archivists will introduce participants to simple preservation materials and cataloguing systems, allowing them to conserve and take away their own piece of history.

Our Branch Out programme has been made possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England.

Page from Beth's notebook showing the flower arrangement in her room at Great Dixter, 8 December 1991

A selection of material from the Beth Chatto archive, showing the variety of types of documents.

White Barn House was designed for the Chattos by local architect Bryan Thomas. This sketch plan is the only evidence of the design I’ve found in the archive so far, which may be an indication of how much more involved Beth was in creating this room.

ELP/1/3/1/26 List of categories for ‘Prizes for the Produce of Elphick’s Seeds’, featuring potatoes, in ‘Elphick’s Seeds’ catalogue (Spring 1940)