Wild Being: supporting social prescribing in Reading
On the 15th July, Reading Voluntary Action (RVA) is launching Wild Being, a new social prescribing project in Reading. Both The MERL and Reading Museum (as Museums Partnership Reading) are proud and delighted to be involved. In this blog, join our Learning and Engagement Manager, Phillippa Heath, as she introduces Wild Being, explains what we […]
51 Voices: A growing understanding
This January, The MERL embarked on 51 Voices, a new year-long project celebrating the museum’s seventieth anniversary in 2021. Throughout the year, we will be working with a range of writers, artists and different communities to give contemporary voice to fifty-one objects and archives in The MERL collection connected in myriad ways to our founding year. […]
Queer Constellations: an interview with Daniel Baker
From the 6th July, two artworks by Daniel Baker, Copse and Canopy, will go on display at The MERL as part of our latest display, Queer Constellations. Daniel is a Romani Gypsy born in Kent: an artist, curator and theorist, he holds a PhD on the subject of Gypsy aesthetics from the Royal College of […]
Why travelling matters: engaging schools with our migration stories
Written by Phillippa Heath, Learning and Engagement Manager at The MERL. As part of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month 2021, we have been sharing collections at The MERL that connect to the histories of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people, including objects, archives, photography, art and library collections. These collections tell us so much about […]
People and Places: why The MERL is taking part in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month
Throughout June, The MERL is celebrating Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month. Running since 2008, this month celebrates ‘the remarkable and immense contributions Gypsy, Roma and Traveller individuals and communities bring to wider society’. Its aim is to help tackle prejudice, challenge myths and amplify the voices of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers. To some readers, it […]
51 Voices: Be Nice, Say Hello, Share the Space
This January, The MERL embarked on 51 Voices, a new year-long project celebrating the Museum’s seventieth anniversary in 2021. Throughout the year, we will be working with a range of writers, artists and different communities to give contemporary voice to fifty-one objects and archives in The MERL collection connected in myriad ways to our founding […]
Mapping the lantern slides
Dr Katrina Navickas is the 2020/21 Open Spaces Society Fellow at The MERL. In this blog, Katrina outlines her work and research in mapping the locations of over 1,000 lantern slides in the Open Spaces Society collection. The Open Spaces Society was founded in 1865 to campaign for and preserve commons, footpaths and open spaces […]
From chalk to cheese: the new display in the Our Country Lives gallery
As we get ready to share the Museum with visitors once again, Curator of MERL Collections Ollie Douglas is to hand to reveal a change to our displays. As he explains, this has been in the pipeline since we relaunched the galleries in 2016. We are sorry to say it means our first visitors back […]
51 Voices: Pleasure and Pain
This January, The MERL embarked on 51 Voices, a new year-long project celebrating the museum’s seventieth anniversary in 2021. Throughout the year, we will be working with a range of writers, artists and different communities to give contemporary voice to fifty-one objects and archives in The MERL collection connected in myriad ways to our founding […]
Working (the land) 9 to 5
Dolly Parton has never been to The MERL, but that’s not to say our collection isn’t filled with objects related to Dolly and her songs.