Routes, Ruins and Reconnaissance:Exploring the Legacy of Gertrude Bell

Now Open! Routes, Ruins and Reconnaissance: Exploring the Legacy of Gertrude Bell

30th October 2026 - 18th April 2027

Special Collections & Archives exhibition area, Level 2, Philip Robinson Library, 1 Jesmond Road West, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HQ

Free. Open to all (you do not need a University smartcard to access the exhibition). Please see Philip Robinson Library's website for opening times.

Using unique archival material from the Gertrude Bell archive, Routes, Ruins and Reconnaissance explores the life and work of Gertrude Bell through the lenses of archaeology and geography. It considers the ways in which her experience in these fields shaped her political career in the Middle East during and after the First World War.

Routes, Ruins and Reconnaissance is the culmination of an eighteen-month collaborative project between Newcastle University Library’s Special Collections & Archives and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) to enhance access to the archival legacy of Gertrude Bell.