A book in The MERL collection

Collections

The Museum of English Rural Life archive, library and object collections tell the story of rural England. The collections are a major source of knowledge and inspiration about how people lived and worked in the countryside. They tell the story of how food and farming matter to everyone.

A researcher views Sutton's materials from our archive.

Archives

Learn about the many archives kept at The MERL.

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Two illustrated partridge cochins from The New Book of Poultry.

Library

The MERL library is the most significant printed collection on British agricultural history.

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An image of a wagon wheel in the MERL object collection.

Objects

Explore the object collections at The Museum of English Rural Life.

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Catalogue card index drawers.

Collections A-Z

An A-Z list of the categories and collections kept at The MERL.

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An image of one of the museum databases search bar on a computer screen.

Search our databases

Use our database to enter search terms and find relevant items in our collections.

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Visiting the archive and library

How to access our reading room for use of our archives and library.

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An image of an object card from the collections for Donating to the Collections page

Donating to the collections

Learn about making a donation to our object collections, archive or library.

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An image of a book spine in the MERL Library, one of main collections.

Collections projects

Research projects at The Museum of English Rural Life.

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