Melissa Harrison: At Hawthorn Time
Written by Dr Paddy Bullard, Associate Professor in Literature and Book History at the University of Reading. @MatWitness Melissa Harrison is a novelist, photographer and nature writer based in south London. Her first novel, Clay (2013) established her as a leading voice among the new ‘urban naturalists’. Her second, At Hawthorn Time (2015), is a powerful and ambitious attempt […]
Students: apply for a landscape research bursary before the end of February
Why should I apply? Our landscape collections are pretty special. Read this overview of our landscape collections or search our combined library, archive and object catalogue. Take a look at reasons to use our landscape collections in your research and topic and resource ideas. But could I apply? Are you: A) A taught undergraduate or postgraduate student? B) […]
Going digital: Reading Museum and the MERL team up
The digital world is not coming, it is already here. In fact, it has been here for some time. Online shopping is king, Google knows where you live, almost everyone has a smartphone and the President-elect speaks primarily through Twitter. But being able to use smartphones, graphic software, websites, social media, apps, tablets, Windows, Macs and […]
January Book Sale
The MERL shop kicks off 2017 with the traditional January Sale. This is your chance to pick up some fantastic bargains, especially among our wide range of books. None of us know what the internet sensation of 2017 will be. But there is no doubt that the sensation of 2016 was the MERL mousetrap story! […]
Evacuees visiting The MERL
On 28 November 2016, The MERL welcomed seven evacuees and their families to the Museum. The evacuees had agreed to allow the Museum to include their stories in the evacuee interactive and the day was designed to thank all involved for their participation. The day included showing the evacuees the interactive for the first time, […]
Discovering the Landscape: Post-War Landscape Architecture project awarded Academic Engagement Bursary
We are delighted to announce that Amber Roberts has been awarded our Landscape Academic Engagement Bursary. Amber will be using our Michael Brown Collection to analyse key design theories and projects in the development of the profession of landscape architecture, 1945-1975. The project will focus on post-war modernist Britain and the international outreach of British landscape […]
Poultry Show, Telford
Written by Caroline Gould, Deputy University Archivist The MERL attended the Poultry Club of Great Britain National Show at the weekend (19-20 November 2016). It was held at the International Centre, Telford. The MERL took a display of items from the David Scrivener Collection, an expert on poultry. It was the first time The MERL […]
Discovering the Landscape: how to use our collections in your research
Are you an undergraduate, postgraduate, independent researcher or at school? Are you studying history, geography, architecture, environmental science, ecology or design? Then come and use our landscape collections in your research (if you’re an undergraduate apply for one of our landscape student bursaries). We’ve even got topic and resource ideas listed here. So why use […]
Archives featured in the Galleries
Written by Caroline Gould, Deputy University Archivist The new galleries were opened on 19 October 2016, after a £3million redevelopment programme with £1.8 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Prior to the redevelopment, the galleries contained a large number of objects with little interpretation. We were keen to include archives, archival film and photographs […]
Shaping the Land – why is the first of our new galleries all about trees?
Written by Guy Baxter, Archivist The first space that visitors to the new MERL galleries enter is deceptively simple. It contains one object (a timber carriage), one large picture (an oak tree) and one literary quotation. Thanks to the projected animation and immersive soundscape, visitors can also see and hear the seasons change in the […]