The Royal Armouries in Leeds, England, now has a blog so you can easily follow their goings on. And there's always something going there, whether it's an Easter joust or a special collection on display. They have some 70,000 arms, armor, and artillery on display or in their collections. They also have some collections from the Tower of London.
Ah armor. I'm drooling, wishing I could be there. I've got my UK itinerary all mapped out, you know. London, Canterbury, Wales, Salsbury, Leeds. And all points in between. For now, I just have to make do with my contacts in archives, looking at pictures on the internet, and the RA website and blog.
They have a Picture Library which includes some 70,000 images from their archives. The Archives contains records relating to the Museum, collections of research material from scholars, as well as the records of the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield. 40,000 records are also available for viewing from their database.
Just wow. The picture above, by the way, is Henry VIII's, from 1515.
The blog is here.
What a find! Just the engravings from the the illustrated papers alone are a treasure trove. You know, if you hadn't gone the creative route, you would have made a terrific reference librarian and a damn good acquisitions librarian as well; not so much the cataloging type -- that's more in my line ;)
Posted by: Marie | February 10, 2011 at 11:11 AM
You're such a tease, Marie.
Posted by: Jeri Westerson | February 10, 2011 at 12:01 PM