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Discovering the landscape #2 (Landscape Institute project update)

Author
Claire Wooldridge
Published Date
February 14, 2014

We have been so busy over the last couple of months that we almost forgot to let you know what we’ve been up to! Here’s our progress in pictures…

 

A new library room has been created to accommodate the growing MERL library. 

LI update Feb 2014 006-1

Over 500 books have been bib-checked for duplication across the University libraries, with 150 books catalogued and on the shelves ready for readers to use in our new library room! Subjects include garden design, historical parks and gardens, urban landscape planning, and the history of gardens and gardening.

LI update Feb 2014 012-1

Drawings from the Geoffrey Jellicoe collection have been catalogued on our database including this design (one of many) for the gardens at Shute House in Dorset.

Geoffrey Jellicoe plan of Shute House

Cataloguing and digitizing the Susan Jellicoe photographic collection of albums. The collections boasts over 6000 prints of national and international landscape and architecture as can be seen in this page featuring Sonning lock here in Berkshire and an avenue of Royal Palms in Barbados.

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Welcoming volunteers who have recently begun assisting in bib-checking and labelling books, and digitizing the Clifford Tandy photographic collection of slides.

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Getting to know our collections to assist with enquiries and cataloguing, and in preparation for the inaugural meeting of the Friends of the Landscape Institute archive on Saturday, where we will be displaying some of the gems from the archive and library.

2013-11-14 15 12 21 (2)-1‘Instruction pair les jardin Fruitiers et Potages’ printed in Paris in 1697

LI update Feb 2014 021-1AR CRO Magdalen College rose garden photo 2

Plan for the rose garden at Magdalen College, University of Oxford by Sylvia Crowe and a photograph of the completed garden some years later.

Author
madeleineding
/
Published Date
March 6, 2026

International Women’s Day 2026: Hidden histories

Discover the stories of three women curators, collectors, and designers in the 20th century.

Handwriting in a farm letter
Author
Joe
/
Published Date
February 25, 2026

Queer histories in the farm records

What can farm records teach us about same-sex relationships? Researcher Tim Jerrome shares his work exploring queer rural experiences.

Exterior of E.M. Barraud's cottage in Cambridgeshire
Author
lottiewood
/
Published Date
February 19, 2026

“I am the farm worker going home at evening”: gender fluidity, rural landscapes, and the Women’s Land Army

Library trainee Lottie Wood reflects on gender fluidity in the work of E. M. Barraud, and Barraud’s reflections on her time in the Women’s Land Army

"Cluttered Countryside." A pastiche of different technologies and activities that disrupt the English countryside - from cars, to petrol stations, to tourism.
Author
Joe
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Published Date
February 13, 2026

Voices of the Countryside

Explore our new exhibition celebrating 100 years of CPRE, whose vital work protects and maintains rural English spaces.

The MERL building, as viewed from the garden.
Author
Ollie Douglas
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Published Date
January 5, 2026

What’s coming up in 2026

This year we’re celebrating the organisations, artists and activists who defend the voices and soul of rural England.

Hedgehog extravaganza
Author
Joe
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Published Date
July 24, 2025

The Friday Walks, with Man in the Woods

In this episode of The MERL podcast, we speak to Bristol-based artist Scott about his artistic practice documenting weird Britain.