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Branch Out | The Tradescant Story Tour

This Tradescant Story Tour 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.

Join curator Emily Fuggle to discover the story behind the John Tradescants – Britain’s first great gardeners and two of the most captivating characters in garden history. During the tour, Emily will detail the story of the Tradescants and showcase our redisplayed Tradescant Ark gallery, a cabinet of curiosities that brings the Tradescant story to life using important objects on loan from the Ashmolean Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum, and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Emily will also share her initial research into the links between the Tradescant collection and Britain’s history of violent colonisation of countries across the globe.

John Tradescant the Elder (c.1570-1638) and his son John Tradescant the Younger (1608-1662) were royal gardeners, botanists, and collectors, who established one of the country’s first public museums. Their elaborate Grade II* listed tomb in our garden prompted the founding of the Garden Museum.

Branch Out events are all free and run on a drop-in, first come first served, basis.

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

Biography

  • Emily Fuggle

    Emily Fuggle

    Emily Fuggle is a freelance curator who has previously worked in a number of museums, including the Imperial War Museum, the Garden Museum, and the Jewish Museum New York. Her curatorial and exhibition projects include the delivery of new collection galleries at the Jewish Museum, holding responsibility for the Holocaust Exhibition at IWM, and working on Whose Remembrance?, exploring the experiences of people in Britain’s former Empire during the two world wars. She has a particular interest in the history of museums and collections.