An interview with: Rob Davies
Our volunteer Whitney has been exploring museum roles lately and spent a few minutes chatting to Volunteer Co-ordinator Rob Davies… 1. What is your job? I have two roles. The first is to look after the volunteers and my other role is to work on the activity plan which involves engaging with different communities around […]
Discovering the Landscape #22: Treasures Exhibition in our Staircase Hall
We’re delighted to share with you our current Staircase Hall exhibition: Discovering the Landscape: treasures from the collections of the Landscape Institute Where? Staircase Hall, Museum of English Rural Life, Redlands Road When? Wednesday 13 January – Friday 1 April 2016 (during our opening hours) What? This display will showcase a selection of important archive materials and books from […]
Community in focus: Katesgrove
As part of the Our Country Lives Activity Plan, we have been working with local Reading audiences to establish links with our neighbours and develop long and sustainable relationships. A ward we’ve spent a lot of time working with this year is Katesgrove. We’ve been working with the excellent organisation Katesgrove Community Association (KCA), a […]
Volunteers' Voice: 2015 round-up
Volunteer Coordinator Rob Davies looks back at a year of volunteering at MERL and the Special Collections. Another year, another year of fabulous volunteer projects; 2015 saw a whole host of new volunteer projects and successes. We also benefitted from the new post of Assistant Volunteer Coordinator, Rhiannon Watkinson, who has worked tirelessly with the volunteers. […]
Plough Monday
Plough Monday falls on the first Monday after the twelfth night of Christmas, which is also the night of the Epiphany. It marks the beginning of the English agricultural year and when ploughmen traditionally returned to the fields to prepare the Spring crops. Still celebrated in some parts of the the north and east of […]
New acquisition supported by the Art Fund
The Museum of English Rural Life has acquired 6 engravings for the collection, by print-maker Stanley Anderson RA (1884-1966). The acquisition was supported with the help of the Art Fund. We were the successful recipients of an Art Fund grant, enabling us to purchase the artworks at auction in December 2015. The Museum acquired a number […]
Explore Your Archive: Interview with Guy Baxter, University Archivist
Whitney, our marketing volunteer, has been continuing her exploration of the world of archives in an interview with University Archivist, Guy Baxter… What is your job title and what do you do within the museum? I’m the University archivist. I’m responsible for the University’s archive collections. Most of the archives I look after are the ones […]
Is this a garden or a teeny tiny farm?
Science engagement officer, Robyn Hopcroft, provides an update on our sugar beet growing project. It’s National Gardening Week, and at The MERL we’re lucky enough to have a beautiful garden with a large lawn, herb garden, woodland area, and several community growing projects. It’s a great space for experimentation with different plant varieties and one […]
Discovering the Landscape: Student bursary winners announced
We are delighted to announce that Moa Carlsson and Tianyi Jiang have been awarded Landscape Student Travel Bursaries. The purpose of the two student travel bursaries is to enable students to access collections held at Reading related to landscape, including landscape design, management and architecture. Moa is a doctoral student at the Department of Architecture […]
Students take over!
This update from our Activity Plan team is written by Rachael Rogers, who has been a member of the MERL Student Panel since September. Over the last year, members have been advising us and getting involved in many aspects of the museum’s redevelopment. Rachael writes about the current project which the panel has been managing: the design […]