News and Views

Discover stories from our collections, work, research, and events. Warning: may contain absolute units.

people browsing the displays in the staircase hall at The MERL
Author
Alison Hilton
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Published Date
March 11, 2024

Glow Up! St Andrew’s Staircase Hall Redevelopment Project

For the first time in twenty years, St Andrew’s Hall has been presented anew. Visitors – including University staff, students and the general public – can now discover books, archives and artworks from the Museum of English Rural Life’s Library and Archive, Special Collections and University Art Collections.

Detail of ploughs in the Digging Deeper gallery at The MERL
Author
Alison Hilton
/
Published Date
January 8, 2024

Ploughs and Ploughing: some reflections from the headland

On Plough Monday, MERL Curator, Dr Ollie Douglas, discusses his appearance on Radio 4 Farming Today’s special programme on ploughing, and the MERL’s collection of ploughs.

covers of MAFF bulletins relating to bee keeping and honey production
Author
Alison Hilton
/
Published Date
January 2, 2024

Advising the Nation: the MAFF bulletins

As the project to catalogue The MERL’s collection of bulletins published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is completed, Collections Librarian, Claudia Ricci explores the history and significance of the publications.

The Gavle Christmas Goat 2006
Author
Tim Jerrome
/
Published Date
December 18, 2023

Yule never baa-lieve it: a case for the Yule Goat at Christmas

The MERL’s Collections Researcher, Tim Jerrome investigates pagan influence on Christmas traditions, and asks why we don’t include the Yule Goat in our celebrations in England.

A group of people dressed for hiking pose together for a photo in a field - with a dog at the centre
Author
Tim Jerrome
/
Published Date
December 4, 2023

The MERL is going Further Afield

Collections Researcher Tim Jerrome introduces our newest project at The MERL, Further Afield, which trials new approaches to community driven museum outputs, working with groups who have been historically underrepresented in the countryside.

detail of a Fowler engine blueprint
Author
Alison Hilton
/
Published Date
November 21, 2023

Full Steam Ahead!

Learn about the 100,000+ agricultural engineering drawings held at The Museum of English Rural Life and the University Special Collections.

Young people on the wooden tractor in the garden at The MERL
Author
Alison Hilton
/
Published Date
November 16, 2023

Launching the Youth Manifesto

As museums across the country celebrate Kids in Museums’ Takeover Day, we are taking the opportunity to share Museum Partnership Reading’s Youth Manifesto, a short film made by young people expressing their views on our museums and how they could be more relevant to them in future.

Detail from United Kingdom Pavilion, Van Riebeeck Festival Fair, 1952. Photograph produced by Bryan Heseltine (Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, PRM 2022.1.45)
Author
Alison Hilton
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Published Date
November 15, 2023

From Britain to South Africa (and back again)

Discover fascinating details from a recently digitised series of extraordinary mid-century photographs that provide evidence to fill gaps in the history of some of the most iconic items now held in the collection of The MERL.

A group of women carrying out the various stages of mass jam production
Author
Tim Jerrome
/
Published Date
November 7, 2023

The campaigns of the Women’s Institute

Work experience student, Amelie Roome, delves into the archives of the Women’s Institute to examine the Institute’s role in the historical and contemporary English countryside.