The MERL is going Further Afield

Collections Researcher Tim Jerrome introduces our newest project at The MERL, Further Afield, which trials new approaches to community driven museum outputs, working with groups who have been historically underrepresented in the countryside.

Full Steam Ahead!

Learn about the 100,000+ agricultural engineering drawings held at The Museum of English Rural Life and the University Special Collections.

Launching the Youth Manifesto

As museums across the country celebrate Kids in Museums’ Takeover Day, we are taking the opportunity to share Museum Partnership Reading’s Youth Manifesto, a short film made by young people expressing their views on our museums and how they could be more relevant to them in future.

From Britain to South Africa (and back again)

Discover fascinating details from a recently digitised series of extraordinary mid-century photographs that provide evidence to fill gaps in the history of some of the most iconic items now held in the collection of The MERL.

New Model Farming

Find our what Henry Ford, Barbie, the prolific farm toy collector Peter Wade-Martins, and a little girl called Pippa Hughes all have in common…