Follow the Drum: Life’s Essentials
Patricia Moloney, Local Studies Assistant, considers the problems caused by food shortages in everyday life for the local community during the crisis caused by the First World War. Local Authorities…
Jane Austen: Behind the Bonnets
Many will have seen the films and luscious TV adaptations of Austen's works - beautiful costumes, affluent country houses, the carriages. And at the centre of it all, an attractive…
Canada’s sesquicentennial: 1867-2017
'On the 1st of July 1867, as soon as the clocks told midnight, in most of the towns and villages from the Atlantic shores of Nova Scotia to the north-west…
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: 20th Anniversary
Just in case you didn't know ..... Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, written by Rowling, was published twenty years ago on 26 June 1997 and fans across the globe…
Cityread: London 1583 – Spies. Suspicion. Murder.
As another fantastic Cityread London festival draws to a close we are tired but triumphant here in Richmond upon Thames Library Services. We have put on 11 successful Elizabethan themed…
Artists at War: Stanley Spencer and the Second World War
In Artists at War: Paul Nash and the First World War, we looked at the role of official war artists and in particular the work of Paul Nash. In this…
Books Are Good For Your Health!
Reading Well is a partnership of Libraries, the Reading Agency and the Wellcome Trust. It is intended to promote the benefits of reading for health and wellbeing and has two…
The Eiffel Tower: a quick tour
The Eiffel Tower is one of the most famous and most visited landmarks in the world. It opened on 31 March 1889, 128 years ago today. History and background It was…
Leigh’s ‘Panorama of the Thames’
This magnificent panorama was published by Samuel Leigh in 1829, titled ‘The Panorama of the Thames from London to Richmond, Exhibiting every Object on both Banks of the River, with…
Artists at War: Paul Nash and the First World War
When war was declared on 4 August 1914 many artists - the profession was then still predominantly male - began to enlist. The Royal Army Medical Corp (RAMC), which provided…