Thinking Rationally?

Ration: to allow each person to only have a fixed amount of something. 

Rationally: in a sensible or logical way 

Considering that our world contains a fine number of resources that are being used at an alarming rate, are we really thinking rationally? This questions forms the heart of the museum’s latest exhibition, Thinking Rationally?, curated by third-year Museum Studies students from the University of Reading. What, they ask, can be learned today from the Second World War’s rationing? And how can we stop wasting and start making do? 

Thinking Rationally? opened at the museum on the 27th February 2020, just weeks before we closed due to COVID-19. At a time when essential items are in short supply and community groups have organised to support key services like the NHS across the country, we find ourselves reflecting on the students’ exhibition from a new perspective.

We hope you enjoy this online version of Thinking Rationally?

Start exploring now

Thinking Rationally?

Ration: to allow each person to only have a fixed amount of something.  Rationally: in a sensible or logical way  Considering that our world contains a fine number of resources that are being used at an alarming rate, are we really thinking rationally? This questions forms the heart of the museum’s latest exhibition, Thinking Rationally?, […]

Playing at Farming: A Display

playing at farming exhibition farm toys

This online exhibition draws on the Peter Wade-Martins Collection of Farm Toys. Peter Wade-Martins assembled this collection of toy farm vehicles and implements over the last 20 years. This small selection of the many hundreds of different British-made horse– and tractor-drawn implements shows the diversity of equipment, manufacturers, materials and age range within the collection. A full listing of […]

Playing at Farming: A Journey

playing at farming exhibition case of farm toys

This online exhibition draws on the Peter Wade-Martins Collection of Farm Toys. The collection of toy farm vehicles and implements was assembled over the last 20 years by Peter Wade-Martins. This small selection of many hundreds of different British-made horse– and tractor-drawn implements shows the diversity of equipment, manufacturers, materials and age range within the collection. As this display […]

Shoulder to the Wheel

There is no point, the old adage goes, in reinventing the wheel. Whoever first said that must not have met a wheelwright. The four wheel components – hub, spokes, felloes and rim – have been constantly refined over the centuries. Shoulder to the Wheel is a collaborative exhibition between the Crafts Study Centre and The […]

Artsmark Journeys Between The MERL and Reading Museum

online exhibition artsmark journeys

In this exhibition, Reading Museum, The Museum of English Rural Life and The University of Reading’s ArtLab invited pupils from two local schools to create their own artistic responses to objects in our collections relating to the theme of food. Both schools are currently working to achieve the Arts Council England’s Artsmark. Below, we invite […]

Farming: The First 12,000 Years

Detail of wooden threshing sled with lava teeth inserted in surface

For the majority of the last 200,000 years, modern humans obtained food by foraging for plants and hunting wild animals. Since farming emerged some 12,000 years ago, it has become the world’s main source of food. It has contributed to the emergence of political movements, social inequalities, land disputes, and even urbanisation. In recent centuries, […]

Smocks, Smocking, Smocked

Smocks have a long and diverse history. Worn to protect the clothing of agricultural laborers when working outside, these cotton or linen garments have since been used for a variety of social and cultural purposes. From folk to fashion, smocks, their infamous smocking, and their detailed embroidery are ingrained in English life, from the rural [...]

Welcome Case

Our Welcome Case holds a cross-section of what we have in the collection. Tap on the yellow circles to find out more about individual objects..

Sire.

Maria McKinney’s Sire. is an innovative exploration of selective breeding and genetics in contemporary cattle farming. The series consists of nine large-scale photographic portraits, taken at an Irish stud farm, that depict bulls wearing eccentric, multi-coloured sculptures mounted on their backs. A ‘sire’ is a male parent of an animal. The exhibition is on display […]