GRT History Month: An Unfinished Painting
Whilst the origins of the below painting are somewhat shrouded in mystery, much can be learned from it about the lives of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, even in its unfinished state. By exploring The MERL’s Bob Dawson Collection and the museum library, we have been able to identify the different aspects of Traveller life […]
Rural Queer Lives in Berkshire Criminal Archives 1861-1967
The Broken Futures project was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2019 and seeks to explore the history of ‘ordinary’ men in Berkshire who were charged with buggery/indecent assault/gross indecency between 1861-1967. The project trained community volunteers in archival and genealogical research. The project is managed and delivered by Support U, the LGBT+ support […]
Life Stories
Throughout the last year, The MERL has had the opportunity to partner with Age UK Berkshire and Younger People With Dementia to deliver a storytelling project focused on capturing the life stories of Reading’s older population. Age UK research suggests 16% of the over 65s often feel invisible or ignored. Loneliness can happen at all […]
Farmer Arthur’s Paper Theatre
Local artist Lisa-Marie Gibbs has joined our 70th anniversary celebration, 51 Voices. She is one of a handful of talented, creative people who have been commissioned to work with our diverse communities. Each partnership links to an item from the collection connected to 1951, our foundational year. Lisa-Marie worked with Downshire House to respond to […]
The Groundnut Scheme: A colonial failure
The ill-fated Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme was planned and put into practice in the mid-twentieth century, coming to an abrupt end in 1951. The story of its collapse is a powerful example of why top-down, colonial approaches to agricultural development often struggled to produce the desired results. It raises important questions about why the voices of […]
The Evolution of Rural Protest
It is often assumed that protest is an action of those who reside in towns and cities, as civil unrest circulates more freely where populations are denser. But those who live in the countryside are no less desiring of social and economic justice than city-dwellers. Join us as we explore several rural protests in England across […]
Reflections of Colonial India at The MERL
Throughout the course of the British Empire’s existence, India quickly became one of the United Kingdom’s key sources of trade and production, with colonial rule lasting from 1858 until 1947, when the country officially declared independence from Britain. This exhibition has been produced as part of a student placement project. Through extensive access to The […]
Unlocking our Lockdown Stories: Alana House and The MERL
Inspired by the art collections held by the University of Reading, the MERL’s Learning and Engagement manager and Arts Collection curator recently completed a project with Alana House, a community organisation supporting women here in Reading. Together, we explored the importance of local landscapes and spaces for wellbeing, which took on a completely unexpected poignancy […]
Lockdown Crafts
It is difficult to create a good definition for craft. Andrew Jewell, curator at The MERL in the 1960s, said of his exhibition Countryside Crafts that ‘all the objects on display were made to be used’. Historian and author Glenn Adamson said that ‘craft is making something skilfully; it’s just that simple. But from that […]
Along the Road We Go
The farm wagon has become synonymous with the traditional English countryside. With its graceful curves and fine local craftsmanship, it was a powerful symbol of the inherent pride and character in rural life in the era before the internal combustion engine. In fact, four-wheeled farm wagons were on the scene for a comparatively short period […]