Discovering the Landscape #20: James Corner speaks at joint MERL and Landscape Institute Annual Lectures

Written by Claire Wooldridge (Project Librarian: Landscape Institute)

James Corner speaking at MERL and Landscape Institute Annual Lecture, University of Reading's Great Hall, 22 October 2015

James Corner speaking at MERL and Landscape Institute Annual Lecture, University of Reading’s Great Hall, 22 October 2015

Yesterday evening cutting edge landscape architect James Corner – renowned for designing New York’s much loved High Line and the South Park Plaza of London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – delivered a fascinating lecture in the University of Reading’s Great Hall.  This was a highly successful joint venture between MERL and the Landscape Institute, serving as the annual lecture for both organisations.  Corner was introduced by the University of Reading’s Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Steven Mithen and the President of the Landscape Institute, Noel Farrer.

Pop up exhibition of treasures from the LI collections prepared by MERL Archives and Library staff

Pop up exhibition of treasures from the LI collections prepared by MERL Archives and Library staff

Pop up exhibition of treasures from the LI collections prepared by MERL Archives and Library staff

Pop up exhibition of treasures from the LI collections prepared by MERL Archives and Library staff

Corner delivered an excellent lecture to a packed audience.  Drawing upon a wide range of themes relating to landscape architecture, Corner spoke about how Jellicoe and Ian McHarg had influenced his early ideas on landscape and the nature of the relationship between architecture and landscape architecture, where landscape design can be most successful when considered as the first element of construction of large scale building projects.  Corner’s talk was illuminated by his use of many striking images including photographs of one his most significant and well known projects, the New York High line, alongside diagrams and graphic illustrations of other projects he and his team are involved in, such as waterfront projects in Seattle and Hong Kong.

Pop up exhibition of Jellicoe material from the LI collections prepared by MERL Archives and Library staff

Pop up exhibition of Jellicoe material from the LI collections prepared by MERL Archives and Library staff

A key theme of Corner’s talk was the importance and relevance of public spaces to people’s lives; be these spaces urban or rural, or in private or public realms.  The landscape architect can influence how people move through a landscape, the public space people inhabit and how they interpret, use and interact with that space.

Getting the Great Hall ready for the lecture

Getting the Great Hall ready for the lecture

Members of the Landscape Institute and FOLAR (the Friends of the Landscape Library and Archive at Reading) enjoyed a packed day here at MERL, which included (in addition to the public lecture!) a meeting of the LI Council, the LI’s AGM, representation from FOLAR and a FOLAR run duplicate book sale and two pop up exhibitions highlighting treasures and Jellicoe material from the LI collections curated by MERL Archives and Library staff.  The Great Hall also hosted a MERL pop up shop before and after the lecture, with James Corner signing copies of his books after the lecture.

FOLAR duplicate Landscape Institute Library book sale in the Great Hall

FOLAR duplicate Landscape Institute Library book sale in the Great Hall

FOLAR banner in the Great Hall

FOLAR banner in the Great Hall

Behind the scenes library tours

Behind the scenes library tours

The unrivalled library and archive of the Landscape Institute are currently being made available at the Museum of English Rural Life.  For more information contact us on merl@reading.ac.uk.

Discovering the Landscape #19: From New York’s High Line to London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (MERL and LI joint annual lecture on 22 October by James Corner)

Written by Claire Wooldridge, Project Senior Library Assistant: Landscape Institute

James Corner's New York High Line

James Corner’s New York High Line

We are delighted to announce that cutting edge Landscape architect James Corner – renowned for designing New York’s much loved High Line and the South Park Plaza of London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – will deliver a lecture here at MERL on Thursday 22 October, as a joint MERL and Landscape Institute Annual Lecture.

Named by TIME Magazine as one of the ‘Top Ten Designers in the World’, James Corner is now working on several high-visibility urban projects around the world, such as San Francisco’s Presidio Parklands and London’s Battersea Power Plant Development.

The unrivalled library and archive of the Landscape Institute are currently being made available at the Museum of English Rural Life.

Here are the details, we look forward to seeing you for this exciting joint venture:

  • Thursday 22 October
  • 7.30pm (Doors open at 7pm)
  • Great Hall, London Road campus
  • Free admission
  • Booking required as places are limited
  • To book, please email merlevents@reading.ac.uk or call 0118 378 8660

Members of the Landscape Institute only: Follow this link to book your tickets for the Lecture and AGM

Image credit: High Line project © Iwan Baan

Discovering the Landscape #18: From Devon to Derbyshire, the Shell Guides to Great Britain

Shell Guides on the shelf

Shell Guides on the shelf

Written by Claire Wooldridge, Project Senior Library Assistant: Landscape Institute

The Shell Guides, published between 1934 and 1984, were designed to be light hearted but engaging guide books to the countryside and historical sites of Great Britain for the growing number of mid twentieth century car owners.  Published by the Architectural Press and funded by Shell-Mex (more driving = more fuel…) the Shell Guides were intended to tag along with day-trippers, being less than 50 pages long they were ideal for a glove compartment.  Bold and visual, each guide contains an introduction to the area covered and descriptions of each place or landmark to be found there.

From Dorset to Derbyshire, Cambridgeshire to Cornwall, the guides covered most regions of Great Britain.  Different regions were studied by different writers, including a host of well know names including John Piper (artist, 1903-1992, writer of Oxfordshire published in 1938) and Paul Nash (artist and painter, 1889-1947, writer of Dorset published in 1935).  Paul Nash went to live in Swanage for a year to work on the book, suffering from shellshock from WW1, this was an opportunity for Nash to find peace in the countryside.  Sir John Betjeman (poet, writer and broadcaster, 1906-1984) edited the series and also contributed several titles, most notably Cornwall (1934).

Selection of Shell Guide covers

Selection of Shell Guide covers

We received several editions of the Shell Guides from the Landscape Institute library, some which were new to us and some which are different editions of titles we already hold.  Several of these were presented by Shell-Mex and B. P. Ltd to the Landscape Institute.  These new additions to the collection will sit alongside our existing ones in our Printing Collection (part of our Special Collections) with Landscape Institute provenance recorded in the catalogue records.

Shell-Mex presentation book plate in Shell guides received from the LI library

Shell-Mex presentation book plate in Shell guides received from the LI library

The guides have an enduring popularity (such as being the focus of books and two TV series, one featuring Richard Wilson and another with David Heathcote, a cultural historian who has written about the Shell Guides) and are very collectable today.  Thirteen Shell Guides were published before the outbreak of WW2 and were reissued after the war.  Different editions within the Shell Guides series, with contemporary typography and images, were published in later decades – making collecting all the different copies something of a challenge!  The Shell Guides from the Landscape Institute Collections make a wonderful addition to our existing holdings.

For more information see David Heathcote’s (2010) A Shell eye on Britain: The Shell County Guides 1934-1984 (Libri).

Discovering the Landscape #17: Sylvia Crowe

The ‘Discovering the Landscape’ series continues with a profile of Sylvia Crowe, ending with an overview of our Crowe collections.  Written by Claire Wooldridge, Project Senior Library Assistant: Landscape Institute

The landscape architect has to understand what the people want and to understand what the wild life wants, as well as understanding the function of whatever it is you are undertaking.  There is a great deal to think about…’

(Crowe quoted in Harvey, 1989, p. 51).

Trawsfynydd nuclear power station, AR CRO DO1 P 3

Trawsfynydd nuclear power station, AR CRO DO1 P 3

Dame Sylvia Crowe (1901–1997) was a landscape architect and writer.  She was a significant figure in the promotion of landscape architecture in the UK and internationally, through her involvement with the Institute of Landscape Architects (now Landscape Institute) and the International Federation of Landscape Architects.  Crowe was an active member of many prestigious organisations, such as being president of the Landscape Institute 1957-59 and of the International Federation of Landscape Architects in 1969.  She was granted a CBE in 1967 and a DBE in 1973 (at which time the last landscape architect to receive such an honour had been Sir Joseph Paxton in 1851).

Crowe trained in horticulture at Swanley Horticultural College (1920–22), going on to complete an apprenticeship with Edward White at Milner, Son and White (1926-27).  Crowe then worked as a garden designer for William Cutbush & Son’s nurseries (winning a gold medal at Chelsea in 1937) until the outbreak of World War Two.  In 1945 Crowe established her own private practice as a landscape architect.  Although they were not in partnership, Crowe was given a room in the offices of Brenda Colvin and in 1952 they moved together to 182 Gloucester Place where Crowe remained until 1982 with various staff assisting her over the years.

Drawing showing Cumberland Basin Bridges, Ashton Gate, AR CRO DO1_R2_1

Drawing showing Cumberland Basin Bridges, Ashton Gate, AR CRO DO1_R2_1

Crowe worked on a great range of diverse projects; from small gardens, to new towns, forestry initiatives and power stations.  She authored many influential books confronting the challenges of new landscape issues and garden design, such as Landscape of Power and Tomorrow’s Landscape in the 1950s.  Urban development Crowe worked on included Bristol in the 1960s.  Crowe also designed the landscape around Wylfa power station, Anglesey and Trawsfynydd nuclear power station, Gwynedd, Wales (at the top of this post).

In 1964 Crowe became the first landscape consultant to the Forestry Commission, a role she worked in until 1976.  During this period, Crowe revolutionised how the need for timber production can be balanced with retaining the beauty of the landscape, publishing Forestry in the Landscape in 1966.  She commented: ‘I think that aesthetic and ecological principles are inseparable, certainly in afforestation’. (Harvey, 1987, p. 34).

Sylvia Crowe signature in Dale's 1944 Towards a plan for Oxford City

Sylvia Crowe signature in Dale’s 1944 Towards a plan for Oxford City

 

Crowe, Landscape of Roads, 1960

Crowe, Landscape of Roads, 1960

The Sylvia Crowe archive and library collection at Reading contains drawings by Crowe and some of her staff, photographs and negatives, and correspondence.  The archive collection has been catalogued with the reference AR CRO and a handlist of the collection is available here.

Books from Crowe’s personal library have now been integrated into our MERL Library.  We also have books written by Crowe that she gifted to other prominent landscape architects, such as the copy to the above of her Landscape of Roads (1960), with the inscription to the Jellicoe’s reading: ‘To Geoffrey & Susan, from Sylvia.  A memorial to our battle of the roads?’.

As mentioned above, Crowe had many connections within the world of landscape architecture; for more information on our Sylvia Crowe, Milner White, Geoffrey Jellicoe, Susan Jellicoe or Brenda Colvin collections please

contact us at merl@reading.ac.uk.

For more information please see Hal Moggridge’s entry on Crowe in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Harvey, Reflections on Landscape (1987) or Collens & Powell, Sylvia Crowe (LDT monographs 2, 1999).

Discovering the Landscape #16: Jellicoe’s JFK memorial at Runnymede

Written by Claire Wooldridge, Project Senior Library Assistant: Landscape Institute

Images of JFK memorial at Runnymede, showing Geoffrey Jellicoe on the right viewing his JFK memorial gardens, from Susan Jellicoe photographic collection, P JEL PH2 L 8

Images of JFK memorial at Runnymede, showing Geoffrey Jellicoe on the right viewing the gardens, from Susan Jellicoe photographic collection, P JEL PH2 L 8

As the world marks the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, Runnymede in Surrey (a water meadow alongside the Thames and the site at which King John sealed the charter as a peace treaty with rebellious barons) has understandably received a lot of media attention.

Due to Runnymede’s ideological association with democracy and freedom under the law as the site of the sealing of Magna Carta – Runnymede also became the site of several high profile memorials.  This gives us the opportunity to explore our collections relating to Geoffrey Jellicoe’s J. F. Kennedy memorial gardens at Runnymede.

Images of JFK memorial at Runnymede, showing the granite setts being laid, from Susan Jellicoe photographic collection, P JEL PH2 L 8

Images of JFK memorial at Runnymede, showing the granite setts being laid, from Susan Jellicoe photographic collection, P JEL PH2 L 8

In 1963 Geoffrey Jellicoe was commission by the Crown to design the British memorial garden to J. F. Kennedy, which was constructed at Runnymede and was dedicated by the Queen in 1965.  Through the design of the gardens, Jellicoe explored ideas relating to how art and landscapes can be subconsciously and symbolically connected through modern art.

The visitor enters Jellicoe’s memorial gardens for JFK through a gateway, which leads to a pathway and set of steps constructed using some 60,000 individual granite setts.  The uneven nature of the path symbolises the ‘pilgrimage’ of those who visit to commemorate the life of JFK.

Images of JFK memorial at Runnymede, showing the granite path leading to the memorial stone, from Susan Jellicoe photographic collection, P JEL PH2 L 8

Images of JFK memorial at Runnymede, showing the granite path leading to the memorial stone, from Susan Jellicoe photographic collection, P JEL PH2 L 8

Upon reaching the top of the flight of steps in the garden, the visitor is presented with a Portland stone memorial tablet, designed by English sculptor Alan Collins, which is inscribed with text from JFK’s inaugural address:

“Let every Nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.”

Images of JFK memorial at Runnymede, featuring the memorial stone, from Susan Jellicoe photographic collection, P JEL PH2 L 8

Images of JFK memorial at Runnymede, featuring the memorial stone, from Susan Jellicoe photographic collection, P JEL PH2 L 8

Our Geoffrey Jellicoe collection (handlist here) features images of the memorial at Runnymede, as does our Susan Jellicoe photographic collection (handlist here), from which the images used in this blog post are taken.

For more information, see Harvey, Geoffrey Jellicoe (Landscape Design Trust: 1998) and Geoffrey Jellicoe’s entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.  If you would like to visit us to view our collections in our reading room, or for any other queries, please contact us on: merl@reading.ac.uk.

Discovering the Landscape #15: The Chelsea Flower Show

Written by Adam Lines, Reading Room Supervisor 

As the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is on (19-23 May 2015) is on – what better time to delve into our Landscape Institute collection for some garden inspiration!

AR JAK PH5_1982_Sculpture Garden Chelsea

AR JAK PH5_1982_Sculpture Garden Chelsea

AR JAK PH5_1982_Sculpture Garden Chelsea

‘Paola’ by Aldo d’Adamo: AR JAK PH5_1982_Sculpture Garden Chelsea

AR JAK PH5_1982_Sculpture Garden Chelsea

AR JAK PH5_1982_Sculpture Garden Chelsea

These beautiful images show a Sculpture Garden for Chelsea Flower Show designed by Preben Jakobsen (1934-2012) in 1982.

Preben Jakobsen was an award winning Danish landscape architect and member of the Landscape Institute, first studying at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew before studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He designed many gardens throughout his career including this, his Sculpture Garden for Chelsea Flower Show in 1982.

The garden features a fireplace designed by Jakobsen specifically for Chelsea, as well as a range of contemporary Japanese and Italian sculptures which were flown over from Florence.

The construction team lowering Giulio Ciniglia’s ‘Night-swimmers’ into place. This sculpture was created without any design or models and depicts two tomb robbers submerged by waves in a stormy sea: AR JAK PH5_1982_Sculpture Garden Chelsea_3

The construction team lowering Giulio Ciniglia’s ‘Night-swimmers’ into place. This sculpture was created without any design or models and depicts two tomb robbers submerged by waves in a stormy sea: AR JAK PH5_1982_Sculpture Garden Chelsea_3

The garden at Chelsea was influenced by another of Jakobsen’s designs – a domestic garden in London from 1979, recently rediscovered by landscape architect Karen Fitzsimon – which won the British Association of Landscape Industries ‘Garden of the Year’ Award in 1981. Jakobsen worked with the same construction team, C. M. Brophy Ltd., when putting together his Sculpture Garden for Chelsea in 1982. Early designs had to be altered when the plot they had hoped for was allocated to another garden, and Jakobsen and his team were presented with an embankment plot. An original plan to incorporate a waterfall was eventually replaced by the fireplace shown in the photograph above.

AR JAK_PF_53 1

AR JAK_PF_53 1

As well as featuring sculptures by Aldo d’Adamo, Giulio Ciniglia and Rintaro Yari, the garden incorporated plant material provided by Bressingham Gardens in Diss, Norfolk, as well as furniture designed by Charles Verney (son of renowned garden designer and writer, Rosemary Verey) whose work had been exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show.

AR JAK_PF_53 2

AR JAK_PF_53 2

Correspondence contained in the Preben Jakobsen archive shows that an idea for a sundial garden was put forward by Jakobsen for the 1983 Chelsea Flower Show. However this idea fell through when detailed plans were not submitted on time, and they were unable to secure a plot. The idea was revived for the 1984 show, but the same problem occurred.

For more information on our Preben Jakobsen collection click here or contact us on merl@reading.ac.uk to arrange a visit to view archival material in our Reading Room.

You can also find lots of other Chelsea Flower Show material on our catalogue, including material from the MERL library, our Farmer and Stockbreeder Photographic Collection and Sutton Seeds Collection.

 

 

Discovering the Landscape #14: 1500 books now catalogued!

Written by Claire Wooldridge, Project Senior Library Assistant: Landscape Institute

1500 items from the Landscape Institute library have now been integrated into our MERL library collection.  These items include books and pamphlets, which have all been cleaned, processed, catalogued and labelled and are available in our open access library.  A small number of rare books received from the Landscape Institute have also been catalogued into our closed access MERL LIBRARY RESERVE collection.

Amherst's Children's Gardens (1902) integrated into our MERL Library Reserve Collection

Amherst’s Children’s Gardens (1902) integrated into our MERL Library Reserve Collection

These titles complement our existing holdings, particularly our MERL library books on topics such as gardening, land policy and the environment, this new material also prompts us to consider our MERL collections afresh.   The landscape is the backdrop to all aspects of rural life, but must also be seen as a worthy subject of consideration in its own right.

Why not visit our Reading Room and take a look…

MERL Reading Room

MERL Reading Room

We’re very grateful to our library volunteers who have been a great help with the processing and labeling of this collection.  There are still many hundreds of books to go!  Please contact us on merl@reading.ac.uk if you would like more information.

Discovering the Landscape #13: From garden space to masterplan

Seminar series round up: Written by Claire Wooldridge, Project Senior Library Assistant: Landscape Institute

Our captivating landscape inspired seminar series has drawn to an end.  We’re delighted the series has been so well attended; a testament to the speakers and to the fascinating subject matter.

If you attended any of the talks (or were unable to) and want to find out more, you can get in touch with us by emailing merl@reading.ac.uk.

Highlighted below are a few of the items from our collections which were mentioned in the talks:

Archives:

Audience for LI seminar

Audience for LI seminar

As part of ‘From garden space to masterplan: the Landscape Institute collections at MERL’ our deputy archivist Caroline Gould

and landscape architect Annabel Downs gave an insightful overview of the history of the Landscape Institute and to the collections here at MERL.

Our Landscape Institute webpages are a really useful starting point for research into our collections and as a source of background information and handlists for specific collections, such as the Brenda Colvin collection, Geoffrey Jellicoe collection and Preben Jakobsen collection (which Karen Fitzsimon used in her talk entitled ‘Rediscovering Preben Jakobsen’.

Our existing MERL archival holdings also hold many treasures to the student of landscape.  Johnathan Brown, in his talk entitled ‘Changing landscapes of farming and estates after the First World War’, used several images from the extensive MERL photographic collection to great effect.  A full listing of our existing MERL archives can be viewed using the MERL archives A-Z.

 

1000 books cataloguedLibrary:

The library of the Landscape Institute is being integrated into our existing MERL library, further adding to areas of strength within the collection, on subjects such as domestic gardening, land use and the environment and conservation issues.  Reference books within the MERL library are a great place to start research into all things landscape.

We were able to show case our Gertrude Jekyll books in a pop up exhibition following Richard Bisgrove’s talk such as Gardens for Small Country Houses, Colour in the Flower Garden and Home and Garden.

The talk from Giles Pritchard and Barnaby Wheeler entitled ‘Reading Abbey Revealed’ was another perfect opportunity for us to delve into our Special Collections and display some of our rare books relating to Reading Abbey.  We were also to display images from slides from the Moore Piet + Brookes collection relating to their work on the Reading Town Centre Masterplan and pedestrianisation.

The pictures below from Professor Timothy Mowl’s intriguing talk on ‘Pleasure and the Regency Garden’ enabled us to showcase some wonderful books featuring beautiful plates of the gardens at our very own Whiteknights (such as Hofland’s A descriptive account of the mansion and gardens of White-knights).

Pop up exhibition in our Staircase Hall following an LI seminar

Pop up exhibition in our Staircase Hall following an LI seminar

Plate of Whiteknights from Hofland

Plate of Whiteknights from Hofland

As above for more information please contact us on merl@reading.ac.uk, visit our LI webpages or search our online catalogue.

To continue discovering the landscape, FOLAR (Friends of the Landscape Library and Archive at Reading) are holding a study day on Brenda Colvin (with a talk from Hal Moggridge, our archivists and a pop up exhibition) at MERL on Saturday 21 March.  See here for more information or contact folar1234@gmail.com to book.

Discovering the Landscape #12: Brenda Colvin

Written by Claire Wooldridge, Project Senior Library Assistant: Landscape Institute

Brenda Colvin (1897-1981) was a founder member of the Institute of Landscape Architects and its first female president (elected in 1951).

In anticipation of FOLAR’s (Friends of the Landscape Library and Archive at Reading) study day focusing on Brenda Colvin here at MERL on Saturday 21 March, this blog post takes a look at Brenda Colvin and our Colvin collections.

From AR COL A/6/5, Folder relating to Little Peacocks Garden, Filkins [Brenda Colvin's home from 1960s]

From AR COL A/6/5, Folder relating to Little Peacocks Garden, Filkins [Brenda Colvin’s home from 1960s]

Brenda Colvin

Brenda Colvin (1897-1981) was a landscape architect, born in Simla in India.  Colvin trained under Madeline Agar in gardening and market work at Swanley Horticulture College.  Colvin and Agar worked together on Wimbledon Common.  In the early 1920s Colvin founded her own practice and by the late 1930s had advised on about 300 gardens.  One of her most significant early works was an extensive addition to the garden at Zywiec in Poland for Archduke Charles Albert Habsburg.  Until about 1965 she practised from an office in Gloucester Place, London, which she shared with Sylvia Crowe (though they never worked as partners).

Colvin designed for many high profile projects, including industrial and urban landscapes, such as the reservoir at Trimpley in Worcestershire in the early 1960s, the landscape of the University of East Anglia, landscapes around new generation power stations such as Stourport (from 1952), Drakelow (from 1963), Rugeley (from 1963), and Eggborough (from 1961) and the rebuilding of Aldershot military town from the early 1960s.

From AR COL A/6/5, Folder relating to Little Peacocks Garden, Filkins [Brenda Colvin's home from 1960s]

From AR COL A/6/5, Folder relating to Little Peacocks Garden, Filkins [Brenda Colvin’s home from 1960s]

In 1951 Colvin was elected the first female president of the Institute of Landscape Architects.   She had been a founder member of the institute in 1929, and from that date was re-elected for forty-seven years without a break as a member of council of the institute, a mark of her standing among her peers. In 1948 she was a British representative at the foundation of the International Federation of Landscape Architects.

In 1969, at the age of seventy-one, with several long-term commissions in hand, Colvin converted her practice into the partnership of Colvin and Moggridge. She was appointed CBE in 1973.

Adapted from Hal Moggridge’s entry on Colvin for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/46400?docPos=4).

 

Copy of Gibson's 'Brenda Colvin' in our open access MERL library

Copy of Gibson’s ‘Brenda Colvin’ in our open access MERL library

The Brenda Colvin archive and library collection

The Colvin archive collection (reference AR COL) is catalogued and available to search via our online database.  Handlists have also been produced of the main catalogue and drawings.

Colvin wrote several books (such as Trees for Town and Country, written with Jacqueline Tyrwhitt and published in 1947, Land and Landscape, published in 1948, revised edition published in 1970 and Wonder in a World, 1977) which are available in our open access library.  We also hold several titles about Colvin, or with chapters about her work, such as Icons of twentieth-century landscape design edited by Katie Campbell and The Garden Makers by George Plumptre.

 

Colvin inscription to the Jellicoe's, in the front cover of a 2nd edition of her Land and Landscape.

Colvin inscription to the Jellicoe’s, in the front cover of a 2nd edition of her Land and Landscape.

Brenda Colvin study day: 21 March 2015

Please see here and below (or contact folar1234@gmail.com ) for further information on FOLAR’s (Friends of the Landscape Library and Archive at Reading) Brenda Colvin study day on Saturday 21 March.

 

Brenda Colvin; An insight into a founder member of the Landscape Institute

Saturday 21st March

1pm

£10 payable on the day

Some of Brenda’s drawings will be on display at the Study Day. Her practice partner, Hal Moggridge, will be giving a talk, as will Guy Baxter, University Archivist. This event has been organised by FOLAR; Friends of the Landscape Library and Archive at Reading.

For further information, contact folar1234@gmail.com

 

Discovering the Landscape #11: Great new seminar series

Written by Claire Wooldridge, Project Senior Library Assistant: Landscape Institute

Great news!  Our fascinating new seminar series entitled ‘Discovering the Landscape’ kicks off on Tuesday 10 February with an overview of the collections (‘From garden space to masterplan: The Landscape Institute collections at MERL’) with our archivist Caroline Gould and landscape architect Annabel Downs.

In 2013, MERL received the archives and library of the Landscape Institute. Our Spring 2015 seminar series focuses on these collections as well as the figures and themes which have shaped the English landscape over the past 200 years.

We hope to see you all there!

  • 1-2pm, Tuesdays (and one Wednesday) in February & March, 2015
  • Free
  • Register
  • Conference room, Museum of English Rural Life

Please see the seminar web pages here for further details on the ‘MERL Seminars: Discovering the Landscape’ series.

Dicovering the Landscape: seminar series poster

Discovering the Landscape: seminar series poster