I was so totally overwhelmed by how amazing this visit was. I just want to say that, right here, before I begin, because holy moly.
Our first introduction to this site was a pause on the corner outside of the building, where statues of David Livingston (who explored Africa) and Ernest Shackleton (who explored Antarctica). Cabbies got to calling this particular spot the "Hot and Cold" corner, and the name stuck. Here's Shackleton:
The Society was founded in 1830, and it now had over 2 million items. Again, I didn't know what kind of items they might have, and even as we entered the building, it looked like a library. However, the society has been the driving force of British exploration since its foundation, and it gave grants and loaned instruments to explorers. In the 1890s-1930s, they loaned over 700 instruments to explorers, and now, each one has its own unique biography.
Back to the 2 million items: I was somewhat right in my conjecture about the maps. One million of the items are maps, half a million are images, 250,000 are books or periodicals, and the rest consists of unique materials, such as correspondence and planning papers.
We were ushered into the reading room, an addition from 2004. The Society has its own online catalogue, and you can explore a lot of the items from anywhere in the world. In the room, our guide for the day had covered an enormous table in items as varied as maps, a balaclava, and bags of tea. What followed was a story that I can't do justice to here, so I'll just go over the basics.
One side (above, left) of the table was the "hot." He started on this side, having us hold up maps and other facsimile items as he went along, moving down the table and allowing each item to tell the next part of the story. In 1819, Europe still had very little knowledge of Central Africa, and the maps of the time give a good outline of the continent, with a huge gaping blank spot in the middle. Today, of course, the British realize that people within Africa knew quite a lot about their own land, so the speaker was careful to define what he meant by "discovery": in the context of the RGS, discovery means that something was seen by western scientists for western science.
Among the items that helped tell the story was a nearly 200 year old sextant, an instrument used to read latitude by comparing the horizon and celestial bodies. If you didn't have a clear view of the horizon, you could use an "artificial horizon," which looks a bit like a wooden box!
Livingston looked and looked for the source of the Nile, and he disappeared for a long time. A man called Stanley Fields, who was hungry for fame and had a penchant for exploration, went looking for him. He found him living alongside a tribe, and when he first met, he is the person who said the famous words, "Doctor Livingston, I presume." Livingston eventually passed away, and his body was sent back in an elaborate casket which sat in the Society for some time. His body now lies in Westminster Abbey, and his casket was used as fuel in one of the great wars.
Once Livingston and other explorers had met their goals in Africa, the RGS had a Congress in 1896. They realized no one had been down to the antarctic regions since the 1830s or 40s, so it was high time they got down there to claim the glory for England. Unfortunately, Belgium beat them to the task in 1897, but they hadn't completely mapped out the region. So the RGS selected Robert Falcon Scott to lead a new British expedition.
From 1901 to 1904, Scott, sailing down on the ship Discovery, explored and mapped Antarctica. Using sledges, he made it to 82 degrees, but wasn't able to get to the Pole itself. The next explorer, Ernest Shackleton, was able to secure funding from a man called Beardmore, who now has a glacier named after him. Much of the expedition was outfitted by Harrod's, the most expensive department store in England, which, at the time, had its own expedition supply departments! Poor Shackleton got within 97 miles of the Pole, and had to turn back. His balaclava sat on the table before us.
Scott was burning to get back to the Pole, and went on another expedition, the Terra Nova expedition. Another explorer beat him to the Pole by about a month, and Scott's crew broke down. Many of the explorers died, but Scott does have the lasting glory of having made it to the South Pole for the first time for the British. One of his crew members, Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates, sacrificed himself for the good of the crew (rations were too low) by walking out into a blizzard. Side note: my favorite book of all time is called The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean, and it features Titus as a main character. You should read it!
Once Britain had "discovered" the South Pole, it moved on to mountains: namely, Mt. Everest. On the table before us sat George Mallory's wristwatch and boot, which sat on the top of Mt. Everest for 70 years before someone was found and retrieved them. No one knows if Mallory made it to the very top, as he died somewhere close by, but it's possible that he made it to the top and perished on the way back down.
After the stories of hot and cold discovery, we were able to walk around the table and inspect the items. Supply lists from Harrod's, a magazine the crew produced on Scott's expedition called "The South Polar Times," and all the other photos, supply items, maps, and instruments that our host had placed on the table for us. I was enthralled by the story, and inspired by the items in front of me. How many times in my life will I sit in a room with items that have been to the highest point in the world, the most southern point on the globe, and into the center of a continent I've never set foot on?
After our amazing story time, I decided to go explore Kensington Gardens a little more slowly. Upon entering the garden, I saw a monument I'd never even heard of. It's fascinating because it was made in honor of Albert, and each corner represents a different corner of Victoria and Albert's empire. It's enormous, and something about the words of the dedication really hit me in the core. I maybe stood there and cried a little bit. People loved these two monarchs.
I made my way past people feeding wild parrots, and finally found what I was looking for: the Peter Pan statue.
I also saw a swan with a baby on its back. When the gosling tumbled off, I realized that it had trouble swimming and could only paddle on one side.
I hung out by the statue, waiting for people to clear off. I finally got the chance for a selfie, and I felt so silly, but there was a woman there listening to the audio book without headphones, and she commiserated with me and my silly feeling.
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