My Favourite Object #5: ‘Four Hedges', a book by Clare Leighton

By Fiona Melhuish, UMASCS Librarian The wood engravings of Clare Leighton (1898-1989) were among the most exceptional examples of the art form produced during the revival of the art of wood engraving in the 1930s. She illustrated numerous books, several of which she had also written, and wrote a manual on her craft entitled Wood-Engraving and Woodcuts, published in […]

Weekly What's On: 24 to 30th March

You can find full details of all our forthcoming events and activities in our What’s On and MERL Families guides, which are now available from the Museum or to download from our website You can also see all events on our online calendar  #MuseumWeek Join us this week for a virtual event over on Twitter. MERL is joining museums across Europe in […]

MERL on Twitter: from dabbling to #MuseumWeek

Alison Hilton, MERL Marketing Officer, looks back at 5 years of MERL on Twitter and forward to an exciting @TwitterUK campaign I have been tweeting for MERL since 2009. I signed up following a training course in which I was introduced to the wonders of social media (Back in the day before I was even […]

Collections Based Research opportunities

There are currently several opportunities to work and study with the University of Reading’s museums and collections: Collections Based Research Programme Director We are seeking an outstanding candidate to be responsible for the formulation, development and delivery of a strategic programme of University of Reading (UoR) collections-based research (CBR). Please see the University website for details of this […]

Weekly What's On: 17th to 23rd March, 2014

You can find full details of all our forthcoming events and activities in our What’s On and MERL Families guides, which are now available from the Museum or to download from our website You can also see all events on our online calendar Seminar series: Untouchable England MERL and the BBC: Rural re-enactment and gestural reconstruction in the 1950s Dr Ollie Douglas, […]

Press release: Science Week is a riot at Uni Museum

Volunteers at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) will present a Reading Science Week event with a difference on Saturday 22nd March. Reading Science Week is part of National Science and Engineering Week (NSEW), a ten-day national programme of science, technology, engineering and maths events and activities across the UK aimed at people of […]

Discovering the landscape #3: Milner’s 'Landscape Gardening'

Written by Claire Wooldridge, Graduate Trainee Library Assistant As progress continues to integrate the library and archive of the Landscape Institute into our MERL collections, here’s a brief look at one of our favourite items: The art and practice of landscape gardening by Henry Ernest Milner (London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, And Co, 1890). Henry […]

Press release: #MuseumWeek comes to University of Reading

The University of Reading’s museums and collections will join museums and galleries from across the UK and Europe on Twitter later this month for the first ever #MuseumWeek, a project that will connect people to artwork, culture, history and science in new and interactive ways. #MuseumWeek will take place from Monday 24th March – Sunday […]

Focus on Collections #5: The Miller's Wagon

written by Katie Wise, 1st year Art History student and MERL volunteer. Many people see the purpose of museums as educating through the display of historical objects. Whilst museums hold many other roles, one major part of any museum is research, as each object and exhibit has a rich history. It is beneficial for the […]