Monthly Archives: February 2014

Focus on Collections #4: Tools & Trade History Society Library

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written by Tony Waldis, the Librarian of the Tools and Trades History Society (TATHS) Library, a special collection kept at MERL for use by visitors and readers. This collection reflects the encompassing knowledge of rural craft and industry kept at MERL, and which we hope to continue to pass down through our displays, outreach and events after our redevelopment.

Among the specialist subject collections at MERL is the library of The Tools and Trades History Society, with over 1,100 books, catalogues, videos and pamphlets.

P FW PH1/54/11/18/3 - A welder at work.

P FW PH1/54/11/18/3 – A welder at work.

It is not just about ‘old tools’; the library also has Young Farmers’ Club Booklets and English Industries of the Middle Ages too. There are numerous trade catalogues that would help to identify most hand tools you are likely to come across, but there is also a wealth of information on the tradesmen of the past and the conditions they worked and lived in. Spare a thought, for instance, for the 18th-century apprentice tied to his master for seven years, during which he could not, marry, leave his master, play at cards, dice or other unlawful games, haunt taverns or play-houses, or absent himself from his master’s service day or night. Worse still, the Xbox and iPad had yet to be invented.

A wide variety of trades and crafts are covered by the collection, from the village blacksmith (who usually doubled as the dentist too because he had the strongest grip for pulling teeth) to the local hat maker. Did you know that the chemicals used in hat making could literally send the workers insane? Hence the saying ‘as mad as a hatter’.

Come along to the MERL Reading Room and see what strange facts you can find in the TATHS collection; a catalogue of material is available online on the TATHS website. There are recipes for cleaning and polishing everything under the sun and for making everything from puddings to poisons. Just don’t mix them up!

Research tip #4: Confused by codes?

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Confused by codes?

All archives use reference codes to identify their collections, files and individual documents. These are often confusing, even for the archivists, but they are necessary to help us find things quickly and to make sure that items don’t get lost. Sometimes codes are completely meaningless, sometimes they can help to guide you through a collection – for instance document “A/1/1” is usually going to be part of a group of documents called “A/1”.

For the MERL archive there is quite a strict system of codes, which depend on the type of archive being described. When MERL first collected farm records, these had a three-letter code based on the county, e.g. “BER” for Berkshire. Occasionally you will see these codes still, but usually we put the code “FR” on the front of all our farm records, e.g. FR BER 1/1. The other major groupings are TR (for Trade Records), CR (For Co-operative Records), SR (for Society and Association Records), P (for photographic collections – although you’ll find photos in other collections as well) and D (for Documents, including the archives of individuals). Sometimes you’ll come across slight variations, but this scheme covers most of the MERL archive.

Our recent acquisition of the Archives of the Landscape Institute (which you can read about in this post) has led us to introduce a new code, AR (for Architectural Records). This is being used for the records of any architects and landscape architects, whether individuals or businesses. We think this is the first new code for about 15 years – believe it or not, we do try to keep things simple for our users!

If you’re struggling to understand an archive reference number, our enquiries team will be glad to help – merl@reading.ac.uk

By University archivist, Guy Baxter.

Weekly What’s On: 24th Feb to 2nd March

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You can find full details of all our forthcoming events and activities in our What’s On and MERL Families guides, which are now available from the Museum or to download from our website You can also see all events on our online calendar

 

Voices of the UKMERL Seminar series: Untouchable England
Sounds familiar? Exploring British accents and dialects
Jonnie Robinson, Lead Curator of Sociolinguistics, British Library
Tuesday 25th February, 1pm
This talk will introduce the Library’s audio collections, resources and services and present examples from the LIbrary’s sound archives that document British English accents.

Followed by the chance to hear a rare recording of the celebrated bowl turner George Lailey being interviewed by the BBC in the 1940s.

For full details of the series, visit our website

 

Spectacular 2008 117Guided tour
Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 3-3.45pm
Free, booking advisable
Let our fully trained tour guides tell you the stories behind the objects on display and visit the object store to see MERL’s hidden treasures.

 

 

 

Rural reads library booksRural Reads book club
Thursday, 27th February, 5.30-7pm
Free, drop-in (£1.50 for tea & biscuits)
Join us to discuss this month’s book ‘The Last Runaway’ by Tracy Chevalier and bring along your suggestions for our next ‘rural read’
For details visit the Rural Reads web page

 

 

 

magic carpetToddler time
Friday 28th February, 10-11am,
£2 per child, drop-in
Suitable for families with children aged 2-4
Come along to the Museum with your little ones and enjoy rhymes, songs and craft activities.  

 

 

 

Ricordate-croppedItaly at war: a selection from the archives
Tuesday 11th February to 30th March
Staircase hall, MERL
Free, drop-in, normal museum opening times
Highlights from the University’s fascinating records relating to Italian history. 

 

 

 

greenhamCollecting the countryside: 20th century rural cultures
Until Autumn 2014
Temporary exhibition space
Free, drop in, normal museum opening times
Since 2008 the Museum of English Rural Life has been adding even more objects to its collection, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Collecting Cultures programme, in order to represent each decade of the last century. (Find out more in Curator, Isabel Hughes’ recent post) This exhibition gives a taste of what has been acquired and challenges visitors to suggest the modern-day objects that the Museum needs to collect for the future. The exhibition will help the Museum to explore how to incorporate more recent histories and representations of the English countryside into its displays as part of the new Our Country Lives project.

 

Picture(s) of the month #8: Eric Guy’s working horses

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I noticed earlier this month that the Royal Mail has just issued a Working Horses stamp set featuring “six contemporary photographs of Working Horses performing therapeutic, ceremonial, environmental, draught and police duties” They’re beautiful stamps which immediately brought to mind the stunning photographs by Eric Guy in the MERL collections.

Eric Guy (1892-1966) was a commercial photographer based in Basingstoke and later in Reading. The MERL collection consists of 2000 glass negatives and some original prints, showing agriculture in central southern England from the 1920s to 50s. Our Honorary Fellow, Dr Jonathan Brown, has written a book about his work – ‘The Rural World of Eric Guy (Old Pond Publishing, 2008) so perhaps I should ask him to blog about this collection in more detail at some point!

Caroline Benson, MERL Photographic Assistant, has selected her favourite images of working horses from the Eric Guy collection.

P DX289 PH1_763

Here horses are being used to transport felled trees. It is interesting to see that forestry is still included in the roles of contemporary working horses.

 

P DX289 PH3_4409

 

P DX289 PH3_4459

 

P DX289 PH3_4669

 

Click here for further details of the Eric Guy Collection and to explore our online catalogue.

by Alison Hilton, MERL Marketing Officer

Weekly What’s On: 17th to 23rd February

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You can find full details of all our forthcoming events and activities in our What’s On and MERL Families guides, which are now available from the Museum or to download from our website You can also see all events on our online calendar This week we have lots of half term activities as well as a seminar, guided tours and exhibitions…

 

Half term family fun!!

jethro 8 cutout flip

For full details of all the family friendly activities at MERL, visit the MERL families web page

 

 

 

 

 

Family tours
Tuesday 18th February, 11.30am & 2.30pm
Free, drop-in, suitable for families with children of all ages
Join rural characters from our family tour guides team for a fun interactive 30-minute tour of the museum and hear their stories of what is was once like to live and work in the countryside.

 

Clarice Cliff ceramics
Wednesday 19th February. 10am-12.30pm & 1.30-4pm
£3 per child, drop-in, suitable for families with children aged 4+
Paint your very own Clarice Cliff inspired ceramic plate using her pieces and MERL’s garden to inspire your designs. Your beautiful plate will be ready to take home at the end of the session. With artist Julie Roberts.

 

Metallic marvels
Thursday 20th February, 10-11.30am, 11.30am-1pm & 2-3.30pm
NOW FULLY BOOKED
Explore the beautifully engraved metal work in our current exhibition and create your very own intricately designed piece of metal art to take home.

 

Plaster mice
Friday 21st February, 10am to 12.30pm & 1.30-4pm
£2 per child, drop-in, For early years and above
Become a sculptor for the day! Join us to make a plaster of paris mouse, inspired by the Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson stool in our exhibition

 

Other events and exhibitions

Wind_in_the_willows_by_Kenneth_GrahameMERL Seminar series: Untouchable England
‘I catch them at intervals’: knowing and not-knowing in  The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Dr Neil Cocks, Department of English Language and Literature, University of Reading
Tuesday 18th February, 1pm
Dr Neil Cocks will discuss issues of language and narration in the central, mystical chapter of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows.
Followed by a pop-up exhibition of editions of the book.

For full details of the series, visit our website

 

Ricordate-croppedItaly at war: a selection from the archives
until 30th March
Staircase hall, MERL
Free, drop-in, normal museum opening times
Highlights from the University’s fascinating records relating to Italian history. 

 

 

 

Spectacular 2008 117Guided tours
Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 3-3.45pm
Free, booking advisable
Let our fully trained tour guides tell you the stories behind the objects on display and visit the object store to see MERL’s hidden treasures.

 

 

 

greenhamCollecting the countryside: 20th century rural cultures
Until Autumn 2014
Temporary exhibition space
Free, drop in, normal museum opening times
Since 2008 the Museum of English Rural Life has been adding even more objects to its collection, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Collecting Cultures programme, in order to represent each decade of the last century. (Find out more in Curator, Isabel Hughes’ recent post) This exhibition gives a taste of what has been acquired and challenges visitors to suggest the modern-day objects that the Museum needs to collect for the future. The exhibition will help the Museum to explore how to incorporate more recent histories and representations of the English countryside into its displays as part of the new Our Country Lives project.

Discovering the landscape #2 (Landscape Institute project update)

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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.

P JEL PH2 L_6_4-1

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

P TAN PH5_4_296-1

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.

Keep up! Stakeholder consultation on MERL’s Our Country Lives project

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MERL Curator of Collections and Engagement, Isabel Hughes, brings us up to date with progress on the Our Country Lives project

Our project plans are developing quite quickly now and one of the challenges is to keep all our various stakeholders informed including our volunteers, neighbours and other interested parties in the University.  Last week we held two sessions to update everyone on the how the project is developing.  About 40 people attended and heard presentations from myself and Rob Davies, Volunteer Co-ordinator.

We were able to explain the broad rationale of the project – to create more space around the building in order to improve both the displays and visitor facilities.

OCL plans

We are working with museum design consultants to create exciting new galleries

 

Alongside the redisplay of the galleries there will be a full programme of activities to attract new and existing visitors to MERL.

Planning for closure is just as important as planning for the reopening of MERL.  There are various important dates for us; 24 February 2014 is the submission date for our Heritage Lottery Fund.  We shall hear the outcome some time in June or early July.  If successful, that would give us 8 – 10 weeks to get ready for contractors arriving on site.  We can’t guarantee an exact start date for construction work but we would aim to offer a full programme of activities over the summer and would close the Museum from about October 2014.

During the closure we would keep the Special Collections, including the reading room open to the public.  We are thinking as well about events we might be able to offer as outreach around Reading.  The main casualty of this phase is likely to be the garden which may be used for contractors’ huts and would definitely be out of bounds to visitors. We are planning to redesign the garden to reflect the themes of the redisplay, however.

There is a lot of work to do to plan for reopening which is likely to take place in late Summer 2015.  We aim to offer an exciting set of launch events, underpinned by a revamped website and publicity materials.

At last week’s meetings our stakeholders seemed very positive about our plans and offered useful suggestions for enhancing things or forging new partnerships.

As you can imagine, the next couple of weeks before submitting our bid are going to be very busy for everyone at MERL, but we look forward to sharing more information over the coming months.

 

Weekly What’s On: 10th to 16th February

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You can find full details of all our forthcoming events and activities in our What’s On and MERL Families guides, which are now available from the Museum or to download from our website You can also see all events on our online calendar

 

MERL Seminar series: Untouchable England
Ghosts and belief: religion and folklore
Dr Paul Cowdell, University of Hertfordshire/The Folklore Society
Tuesday 11th February, 1pm
Barely anywhere in England lacks a ghost story. This seminar, based on recent fieldwork, examines English folk eschatology, including its interaction with more institutionally expressed religious beliefs, and the apprent disjuncture between them.

For full details of the series, visit our website

 

Ricordate-croppedItaly at war: a selection from the archives
Tuesday 11th February to 30th March
We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the delayed opening of this display
Staircase hall, MERL
Free, drop-in, normal museum opening times
Highlights from the University’s fascinating records relating to Italian history. 

 

 

Spectacular 2008 117Guided tour
Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 3-3.45pm
Free, booking advisable
Let our fully trained tour guides tell you the stories behind the objects on display and visit the object store to see MERL’s hidden treasures.

 

 

 

 

magic carpetToddler time
Friday 14th February, 10-11am,
£2 per child, drop-in
Suitable for families with children aged 2-4
Come along to the Museum with your little ones and enjoy rhymes, songs and craft activities.  

 

 

 

greenhamCollecting the countryside: 20th century rural cultures
Until Autumn 2014
Temporary exhibition space
Free, drop in, normal museum opening times
Since 2008 the Museum of English Rural Life has been adding even more objects to its collection, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Collecting Cultures programme, in order to represent each decade of the last century. (Find out more in Curator, Isabel Hughes’ recent post) This exhibition gives a taste of what has been acquired and challenges visitors to suggest the modern-day objects that the Museum needs to collect for the future. The exhibition will help the Museum to explore how to incorporate more recent histories and representations of the English countryside into its displays as part of the new Our Country Lives project.

 

jethro 8 cutout flipComing up next week – half term family fun!

Visit the MERL families page for details of family tours, craft workshops and activities during half term!

 

 

Volunteers’ Voice #9 – Planning ahead

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Volunteer Coordinator, Rob Davies, shares some tips for planning a volunteer programme…

At the beginning of each year I sit down and think about what the New Year will hold for the volunteer programme and the volunteers. I make three lists:

  1. Beyond my wildest dreams
  2. Let’s be realistic here
  3. What can the volunteer programme do to further support UMASCS (University Museums & Special Collections Service)

I don’t show anyone these lists but they stay at the back of my mind whilst planning and forward thinking. With an already busy 2014 ahead, not just for the volunteer programme but for MERL and UMASCS as a whole, I contemplate and prepare.

In the list below I have highlighted some of the planning methods I use which might help you prepare your own volunteer programme for the New Year…

  • Think about what you did last year
    • What worked?
    • What didn’t work?
    • Will you do it again this year? How it will be different?
  • Do you have any partnership projects on the horizon? How will they affect your volunteer programme?
  • Are your volunteers happy? Have you asked them? What more can you do to make their volunteering a more pleasant and enjoyable experience?
  • How much budget will you have this year? How are you going to make the most of it?
  • Have you thought about the staff? Are they happy with their volunteers? Is there anything you can do to support them further?
  • Create a timetable highlighting busy periods for your organisation and volunteers. My timetable marks out events where volunteer support is needed, learning activities and major projects. I also mark in days of recruitment and career fayres, important meetings (not just for volunteers but for myself) and anything else that may take a lot of time.

Whilst planning and thinking about the above, I always have two words in bright bold letters on my white board; they are coincidentally Scar’s motto from the Lion King “Be Prepared”.  Always think ahead of each project, activity and day, be ready for whatever may come your way and always have the kettle on. If you’re planned and ready, the volunteers will enjoy their time with you, they’ll deliver more and stay with your organisation for longer.

Be prepared

Weekly What’s On: 3rd to 9th February

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You can find full details of all our forthcoming events and activities in our What’s On and MERL Families guides, which are now available from the Museum or to download from our website You can also see all events on our online calendar

 

Stakeholders smallMERL Seminar series: Untouchable England
Basketry skills as intangible cultural heritage
Greta Bertram, Project Officer, Museum of English Rural Life
Tuesday 4th February, 1pm
Craft skills are recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. Using the example of basketry, Greta will examine the idea of heritage craft, explore values that basketmakers ascribe to their work, and look to the future of intangible craft skills. Followed by a ‘pop-up’ display of baskets from the MERL collections in the object store,a nd a chance to talk about MERL’s current ‘Stakeholders’ project.

For full details of the series, visit our website

 

Ricordate-croppedItaly at war: a selection from the archives
Tuesday 4th February to 30th March
NB Due to staff sickness, the opening of this exhibition has now been postponed until Tues 11th February. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Staircase hall, MERL
Free, drop-in, normal museum opening times
Highlights from the University’s fascinating records relating to Italian history. 

 

 

 

Black white posterBlack/White
Tuesday 4th to 7th February
Free, drop-in, normal museum opening times
An artistic intervention in the Museum galleries by University of Reading art students.

 

 

 

 

Spectacular 2008 117Guided tour
Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 3-3.45pm
Free, booking advisable
Let our fully trained tour guides tell you the stories behind the objects on display and visit the object store to see MERL’s hidden treasures.

 

 

 

Paper plate owlToddler time
Friday 7th February, 10-11am,
£2 per child, drop-in
Suitable for families with children aged 2-4
Come along to the Museum with your little ones and enjoy rhymes, songs and craft activities.  This week we’re making paper plate owls!

 

 

 

greenhamCollecting the countryside: 20th century rural cultures
Until Autumn 2014
Temporary exhibition space
Free, drop in, normal museum opening times
Since 2008 the Museum of English Rural Life has been adding even more objects to its collection, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Collecting Cultures programme, in order to represent each decade of the last century. (Find out more in Curator, Isabel Hughes’ recent post) This exhibition gives a taste of what has been acquired and challenges visitors to suggest the modern-day objects that the Museum needs to collect for the future. The exhibition will help the Museum to explore how to incorporate more recent histories and representations of the English countryside into its displays as part of the new Our Country Lives project.