Weekly What's On: 10th – 16th 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 MERL Seminar series: Untouchable England The Dark Monarch: magic and modernity in British art Professor Alun Rowlands, Department of […]
Volunteers' Voice #10: Performing Protest: Riots against technological change in the 19th Century
written by Rob Davies, Volunteer Co-ordinator On Saturday 22nd of this month a team of my volunteers are delivering Performing Protest: riots against technological change in the 19th Century. It is a performance-based event about the Swing Riots in Berkshire, which occurred in 1830-31. The event is part of Reading Science Week, in turn part […]
Our Country Lives project submitted!
written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer for Our Country Lives. MERL’s HLF project Our Country Lives reached an important milestone last Monday when we submitted our bid for second stage funding to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). We will find out whether we have been successful in June. Our consultants for the design of the new galleries, […]
Press release: Arts Council funding brings Reading museums closer to the community
Arts Council funding brings Reading museums closer to the community 5th March, 2014 The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) and Reading Museum have been awarded £129,150 to collaborate on ‘Reading Engaged’, a new joint project aimed at strengthening engagement with local communities. MERL, which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, has […]
Weekly What's On: 3rd to 9th 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 MERL Seminar series: Untouchable England The Museum of British Folklore: a new cultural venture Simon Costin (1-2pm) and Obby […]
Focus on Collections #4: Tools & Trade History Society Library
written by Tony Waldis, the Librarian of the Tools and Trades History Society (TATHS) Library, a special collection kept at MERL for use by visitors and readers. This collection reflects the encompassing knowledge of rural craft and industry kept at MERL, and which we hope to continue to pass down through our displays, outreach and events […]
Research tip #4: Confused by codes?
Confused by codes? All archives use reference codes to identify their collections, files and individual documents. These are often confusing, even for the archivists, but they are necessary to help us find things quickly and to make sure that items don’t get lost. Sometimes codes are completely meaningless, sometimes they can help to guide you […]
Weekly What's On: 24th Feb to 2nd 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 MERL Seminar series: Untouchable England Sounds familiar? Exploring British accents and dialects Jonnie Robinson, Lead Curator of Sociolinguistics, British […]
Picture(s) of the month #8: Eric Guy's working horses
I noticed earlier this month that the Royal Mail has just issued a Working Horses stamp set featuring “six contemporary photographs of Working Horses performing therapeutic, ceremonial, environmental, draught and police duties” They’re beautiful stamps which immediately brought to mind the stunning photographs by Eric Guy in the MERL collections. Eric Guy (1892-1966) was a commercial photographer based in Basingstoke […]
Weekly What's On: 17th to 23rd February
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 This week we have lots of half term activities as well as a seminar, guided tours and exhibitions… Half term […]