Focus on Collections #4: Tools & Trade History Society Library
written by Tony Waldis, the Librarian of the Tools and Trades History Society (TATHS) Library, a special collection kept at MERL for use by visitors and readers. This collection reflects the encompassing knowledge of rural craft and industry kept at MERL, and which we hope to continue to pass down through our displays, outreach and events […]
Picture(s) of the month #8: Eric Guy's working horses
I noticed earlier this month that the Royal Mail has just issued a Working Horses stamp set featuring “six contemporary photographs of Working Horses performing therapeutic, ceremonial, environmental, draught and police duties” They’re beautiful stamps which immediately brought to mind the stunning photographs by Eric Guy in the MERL collections. Eric Guy (1892-1966) was a commercial photographer based in Basingstoke […]
Pictures of the month #7 – Floods in Berkshire
Photographic Assistant, Caroline Benson has selected 2 particularly topical images from our collections this month… The subject of this month’s photographs will seem all too familiar to many people living by the Thames. They show the floods of November 1895 in the riverside village of Pangbourne in Berkshire. Small boats & punts can be seen […]
Pictures of the month #6 – Canal life
Photographic Assistant, Caroline Benson has resisted the temptation to select a festive image this month, instead sharing images she discovered whilst preparing materials for an education session last month… The photographs this month are from a collection depicting canals & canal life. The two I have chosen were amongst a selection used by Philippa Heath, […]
Alfred Waterhouse and MERL
written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer for Our Country Lives. Buildings are, in most cases, more famous than their architects. Exceptions are rare, such as St Pauls’s Sir Christopher Wren, or Frank Lloyd Wright (and then my limited knowledge collapses..). One architect you may not have heard of, but whose buildings you certainly will know of, […]
Picture of the month #5: Artist in butter
Caroline Benson, MERL’s Photographic Assistant has come across a most fascinating craft (which, sadly, definitely isn’t one which will be on display at our Traditional Craft Fair!) We didn’t quite squeeze this particular ‘Picture of the month’ into October, but I think it’s worth the wait!! This month’s photographs are from a collection recently deposited […]
Project news: Rural images discovered: Colin Shaw
written by Nancy Fulford, Project Archivist. A couple of weeks ago marked the end of the Rural Images Discovered Project which has seen over 15,000 prints digitised, and many more negatives and prints catalogued from the John Tarlton, Farmers Weekly, Peter Adams and Colin Shaw photographic collections. I came to the Colin Shaw collection towards the […]
Picture of the month #4: Picking up the last of the Harvest
As our Photographic Assistant is on leave this week, I thought I would try and use our database to find a suitable harvest image. I have to admit I usually run straight to my colleagues in the reading room when I need something from the archives, so I was really pleased that the terms I […]
Picture of the Month #3: Steam-powered buses
written by Caroline Benson, Photographic Asssistant Anyone who has experienced public transport during the hot summer months may like these two photographs where air conditioning is readily available. They are both from an album in the archive of Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies Ltd held here at MERL. Both date from the early 1870s and show […]
My Favourite Object #3: Horse overshoes, or lawn slippers
written by Claire Smith, Weekend Supervisor/Learning Assistant. To learn more about Claire, see her previous post. Before the invention of the lawnmower in 1830, grass would be cut with a scythe, or animals would be allowed to graze on the lawn to keep it short. From the 1850s, horse-drawn lawn mowers were introduced. In order […]