What have we been up to? An Our Country Lives update
A common reaction from people when we tell them that our galleries are closed is ‘Does that mean you’re all on holiday?’ Well, we’ve actually been intensely busy behind the scenes since November creating the new MERL! Here’s a round-up of some of the things we’ve been doing: 1. While the galleries have been closed, our […]
Vlog blog: How many curators..?
So how many curators does it take to run the University of Reading Museums and Collections? Well, surprisingly few actually, as our new vlog channel sets out to demonstrate! Tramping round rural Berkshire, delving into the MERL basket collection, and serenading the Special collections librarian: since the launch of our new video blogging channel last term, […]
Folklore & Storytelling: MERL and the Pitt Rivers Museum
Ollie Douglas, our Assistant Curator, gave a gallery talk at the Pitt Rivers Museum recently and naturally homed in on objects relating to rural life. Here’s what he found… I recently had the enjoyable experience of giving a gallery talk at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, on the subject of folklore and object collecting. […]
The Great University of Reading Museums and Special Collections #12off
The Great University of Reading Museums and Special Collections #12off: It doesn’t exactly roll of the tongue, does it, but the idea for a MERL #12daysofChristmas series of tweets emerged in one of our weekly social media meetings before Christmas, and our colleagues at the Ure Museum and the Special Collections jumped at the chance […]
The return of King Alfred
It was just before Christmas that marked King Alfred’s return to Reading, 1143 years after the siege and loss of the town to Ivar the Boneless in 871 CE and Alfred’s subsequent exile to a swamp (where he took up a bit of baking). We’re not talking about the actual Alfred of course, the site of whose […]
MERL in Marseilles: reflections on the International Congress of Agricultural Museums
Ollie Douglas, Assistant Curator at MERL, reflects on the common challenges faced by museums similar to MERL around the world, after attending the International Congress of Agricultural Museums. At the beginning of November, Isabel Hughes, MERL Curator, and I travelled to Marseilles to present MERL’s latest ideas to an international audience. Our presentations formed part of […]
Discovering the Landscape #9: 1000 books catalogued!
Written by Claire Wooldridge, Project Senior Library Assistant: Landscape Institute We are delighted to be able to say 1000 books from the Landscape Institute library have now been integrated into our MERL library collection. Each book has been cleaned, processed, catalogued and labelled. The books are available in our open access library. A small number of rare books […]
'Rural reads plus' review: The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch
Written by Rob Davies, Volunteer Co-ordinator Last month we read The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch; this was the first book we’ve read since the group became ‘Rural Reads plus…’ and we expanded our remit to include books inspired by the University’s Special Collections. The Unicorn was a perfect read to bridge both rural reads and […]
Weekly what's on: 24th to 28th November
Although the MERL galleries and garden are currently closed for redevelopment, there are still events and activities taking place at the Museum and Special Collections. Below are details of this week’s events. Further details of forthcoming events can be found on the MERL What’s On pages or on the Special Collections pages. Huntley & Palmers: a Christmas selection 25 […]
Town and Country: William Shenstone & Leasowes Park
Written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer for Our Country Lives. How interdependent are town and country? How do they rely on each other, and where does one end and the other begin? It is a theme we’re exploring in great detail for Our Country Lives and, considering around 90% of English people live in urban areas, a […]