Changing Faces: Dismantling the old Museum

Posted on November 20, 2014 by merl

Written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer for Our Country Lives.

The Museum has now been closed a little over two weeks, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy behind the scenes. Although visitors to our Archive & Library, steered through the shop to our tranquil Reading Room, may be entirely unaware of the scale of the work being done to strip away the old materials and objects from our galleries.

The changes within the galleries has been quite dramatic..

The physical work has been a massive logistical challenge and all credit should go to our Conservation Team, which is composed of our Conservator, a couple of staff members and volunteers (plus other colleagues when they have a moment). MERL is fairly unusual for a Museum of its size because we don’t have an offsite Store where we can keep our objects while work is ongoing. Although we considered hiring external storage we didn’t think our large objects, sturdy as they look, would survive the move without being damaged. As such, everything that is small has been removed, recorded and moved upstairs while we play a delicate game of Tetris with the remaining larger objects we cannot carry upstairs, or which we simply don’t have the room for.

So far we’ve managed to fill two skips with refuse!

Objects have been carefully packed into one side of the Museum.

As everything gets tidied away, however, it has become very clear that our building, constructed in 2004, is now a blank slate for our redevelopment. Without the objects we are left with grey floors, white walls and open spaces which we are eagerly filling with new stories and themes on English rural life.

Work in the galleries is almost ready for the builders to move into our garden and begin construction on the extensions to the Museum, which we foresee being finished in Spring 2015. After that our fit-out contractors will take their place and fill the Museum with plinths, cases, signs and objects ready for our re-opening, which may take until early 2016.

Don’t worry though, we will be keeping you regularly updated here on the blog, tracking both the progress of the work within the galleries as well as some of the conservation work that goes on in a project of this size.

Volunteers’ Voice #16: Young people as volunteers

Posted on November 5, 2014 by merl

Written by Rob Davies, Volunteer Coordinator

Our lovely Vintage Night student volunteers

As part of the Our Country Lives project we are launching a series of projects to encourage young people (aged 11-25) to volunteer and engage with MERL. The age range is vast, with a wide variety of skills, abilities and interests within this target audience. You may ask: why are we targeting this group in particular? Well, through extensive research we have identified that our only visitors within that age category are usually those who come to study, students who volunteer or visit as part of a school trip. We can certainly continue to provide this educational resource, but we want to broaden our horizons and become more of a destination, not just offering a studious environment but also a place to go for extracurricular activities and leisure.

To prepare ourselves for this I have been researching young people within the museum sector and have come across a rich range of resources, related experiences and friendly colleagues who want to share stories and tips. In October I attended a seminar at the National Portrait Gallery called ‘The Domino Effect’, which heralded the conclusion of a three year project where they have been working with NEETS on photography projects. I have also been talking to colleagues at the ‘Collaborate SE: the South East regional Network of Museums working with young people.’

A series of projects and strategies have been planned, but not too in-depth as we want these projects to be formed by the young people themselves. (We were all young once, but does that mean any of us really know what young people want anymore?) Our plan is to have two forums split by age category. Each one will be supported by a member of staff and will function democratically. Last year we piloted this idea with a student panel who organised our 1951 Vintage Night for Museums at Night, which was a very enjoyable experience and a great success. Members of the forums will have numerous projects they can participate in: from consultation regarding our new galleries to planning events for their peers to attend. For young people who don’t fancy the idea of joining a forum we’re also setting up a youth volunteering programme, which will work around school hours and provide a chance to volunteer across the organisation.

To launch these exciting new projects we’re holding an open afternoon on Takeover Day, Friday 21^st November, 4-6pm, at the Museum of English Rural Life. This will be a great opportunity for anyone interested to come along and talk to volunteers and members of staff about the type of opportunities they could get involved in. We hope to see you there! For more information, email merlevents@reading.ac.uk

Rural Reads review #8: ‘Clay’ by Melissa Harrison

Posted on October 20, 2014 by merl

Rob Davies reviews the latest rural read.

For the September meeting, we read Clay by debut author Melissa Harrison. Clay is an unusual novel for Rural Reads because it is set firmly in a city; it is, however, about how people within an urban environment interact with the green spaces available to them. This is a theme we as a group find particularly fascinating, partly because of where we all live, but also because of MERL’s urban location in Reading.

Clay is driven by a loose plot about a group of people who in some way or form have a relationship with a green common within a housing estate. The characters all have varying degrees of interaction and relationships with one another; each of them is missing something from their lives and all are craving friendship and companionship. These characters include a young boy from a disrupted home, an elderly widow, her daughter and her granddaughter, and an Eastern European immigrant who lost his farm and now works in England. Each of these characters has a relationship with the Common, which for each of them is variably a place of peace, adventure, memory and intrigue.
Yet it wasn’t so much the plot that captured our attention as the wonderful nature writing with which Harrison filled the pages.

“Over by the oaks the elegant, sandy feathers of tall oat grass floated above the finer, reddish inflorescence of the common bent below, like the two lengths of pelt on a cat.”

Harrison interweaves the main plot with these beautiful descriptions that add a whole new depth to the novel; this is what really captured our imaginations and also why we consider Clay to be a ‘rural read’!

My first question to the group was “did you enjoy Clay?” and I was answered with a unanimous yes. We all enjoyed the book as a whole, and it was a light read that we were easily absorbed by. We all really enjoyed the way Melissa Harrison wrote about nature, and I would recommend reading her blog Tales of the City where she writes about the diversity of nature found in urban environments.

The new home of our bookclub

For October 30th we’re reading Unicorn by Iris Murdoch, which marks a change in our reading remit. When the Museum closes at the end of October for work on the Our Country Lives redevelopment to take place, Rural Reads will move to the beautiful Staircase Hall in the Victorian part of our building. Our remit will expand to encompass the varied and vast Special Collections held by the University of Reading. Alongside books themed around the countryside, we will be taking inspiration from the libraries and archives. The depth of these collections means we’re all very excited about where this new reading adventure will lead!

Dog Carts: Travel in style

Posted on October 14, 2014 by merl

Written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer.

In my mind the idea of a dog cart is fairly funny. The idea of, say, a Pug or a French Bulldog pulling along bespoke, miniature carts is absurd, endearing and yet a little unsettling, like performing animals at the zoo.

They are also some of my favourite objects at MERL. Nothing else has confronted me so immediately with its oddity: when did we use dogs as draught animals? Why was that okay? Who made these carts, and who used them?

Vincent de Vos – The Dog Cart – Williamson art gallery and museum

It is the ethical issues, however, that I enjoy the most. Why is it one rule for one animal and a different one for another? Docking dog tails is restricted or banned in most countries, but it’s fine for sheep. Is it hypocritical to think of dog carts as cruelty to animals when we still use horses and oxen to pull carts?

L.M. Frobisher – Belgian Dog Cart – Bushley Museum and Art Gallery

The Victorians were the first to take issue with it, originally banning it in 1839 through the Metropolitan Police Act, which forbade the use of dog carts within fifteen miles of Charing Cross. As well as being thought of as cruel to animals it was thought that overworked dogs were more susceptible to rabies, cases of which did indeed drop by 1841. It was also in that year that dog-carts were banned across the United Kingdom. It did not pass unopposed, although most arguments against it were concerned with the effect it would have on small traders, who used dog carts as a cheaper way of transporting goods. Indeed, some of the opposition ridiculed the ‘trivial’ bill, saying that if small animals should not draw carts then Shetland ponies should also be banned. (And considering that 1841 was the same year in which the Abolition of Slavery Act was passed, they may have had a point.)

MERL/63/231

The Act for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals has since been updated without mention of using dogs for draught purposes so I’m not sure if it even is illegal anymore. Perhaps it’s simply because it would be such a rare occurrence for someone in the modern age to construct a cart and conscript a canine that it is pointless to legislate against.

A google, however, reveals that dog carts are still sold in the USA. So if you want to be driven around by a dog for some reason, try there. Just don’t use ours.

MERL/63/101 – This one is actually French, so it’s a little strange that we have it..

Weekly what’s on: 22nd Sept to 5th October

Posted on September 30, 2014 by merl

Full details of our events this term can be found on our website, and events in the Our Country Lives programme are listed here

Samuel Beckett in London – the Murphy Notebooks
Weds 1st to Saturday 4th October
As part of the University of Reading’s Beckett Week, a celebration of the University’s internationally renowned collection of manuscripts from the Nobel Prize-winning writer will be on show at MERL. The display showcases fascinating items from a key period in the famous author’s life, including the Whoroscope Notebook and the Murphy manuscripts.

Toddler Time
Friday 3rd October, 10-11am, £2 per child, drop-in
From this month, Toddler Time will be monthly (first Friday of the month) and we’re moving (find out why) to The Learning Hub at the Institute of Education, right next door to MERL. Please come to MERL (to pay and park as usual) and we’ll go over to the new venue together. We’ll still be enjoying songs, rhymes and stories followed by a craft activity inspired by the Museum’s collections and garden.

Information Day,
Saturday 4th October, 2-4pm
Free, drop-in
Come and see the current displays for one last time, learn more about the project, see the first artist impressions of some of the proposed new galleries, and find out how you can get involved…

Hear a short presentation outlining plans for the new galleries, facilities and activities
See artists impressions and initial plans for the new galleries
See some of the hidden treasures from the stores which will feature in the new displays
Have a go at object handling – an example of the kind of activity which will be available in the new museum
Take part in an ‘image keywording’ activity with staff to discuss contrasting images of the countryside & help inform one of the new galleries focussing on percetpions of the countryside (Read this blog post to find out more)
Make a chocolate box decorated (as seen at the Berkshire Show!) with nostalgic rural images and see the objects which inspired them
Find out about the new Family Forum & Youth Forum and sign up to take part in consultations to have your say in the future of MERL
Enjoy delicious tea & cake!

Collecting 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’ blog post) This exhibition gives a taste of what has been acquired. 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 Our Country Lives project.

Conservation Diary 2: Repairing the damaged and dry

Posted on August 26, 2014 by merl

As promised, I am back with some more exciting and fresh updates. Good progress has been made!

The first week flew by in the setting up of and preliminary preparations for the conservation project of the first 1951 wall hanging. In the second week I felt myself drifting off far away, swayed by the humming sound of the controlled variable suction vacuum cleaner as I continued to rhythmically surface-clean both the front and back of the wall hanging. I felt completely in tune with myself. I pictured myself in the beautiful countryside of Kent and imagined how farming life would have been back in the 1950s, helped by how the resist-dyed wall hanging has a plethora of so many vibrant colours.

As the conservation of the wall hanging progressed, two further tests were undertaken – the first to determine the dye fastness of every different colour used in the hanging when exposed to moisture – the second to assess the effectiveness of humidification treatment in relaxing creases…

Kate is performing the humidification test and the dye fastness test of every different colour

Then, Kate also examined the two holes in the wall hanging. The first was a small square like shaped with frayed edges shown below in the picture on one of the orange Oast Houseroofsand the other was a bigger hole on the green patch in a more elongated shape.

Conservator Kate Gill examining an area of loss in the hanging

The conservator is making a template on one area of loss in preparation of the conservation support

There were some old repairs on the centre seam which were causing damage to the wall hanging. Kate thoroughly examined its condition and decided that the best treatment to preserve it was to remove the old repairs.

Detail of damaging repairs along centre seam

I shall leave you to digest the same excitement that I felt while assisting on this unique project.

Watch this space for more interesting insights into the conservation of the 1951 wall hangings… until then you are very welcome to come and meet us at the Museum of English Rural Life where you can see the real action happening!

Conservation Diary: Week 1 on our 1951 Wall Hanging

Posted on August 21, 2014 by merl

My name is Nitisha Ramrekha-Heeramun and over the next few weeks I will be blogging about the conservation of two large and colourful resist-dyed textile wall hangings produced by the renowned artist, Michael O’Connell, for the Festival of Britain in 1951.

I started volunteering at the Museum of English Rural Life in August 2013 under the supervision of Fred the MERL conservator, during which time I have picked up valuable practical conservation skills and knowledge. I feel privileged to have the opportunity of working closely with our contracted specialist textile conservator, Kate Gill, and assisting with the conservation of the wall hangings. Professionally, I have a legal background, but my real passion is to preserve and care for our cultural heritage and I aspire to have a fulfilling career in this field.

The idea of blogging about the conservation of the two wall hangings came about when I felt the need to make you, the audience, re-live the experience of being in such close proximity with and handling such well-guarded artefacts. I hope that you will enjoy reading through this blog as much as I enjoy writing about it!

I was thrown completely in at the deep end on the very first day! It was absolutely fascinating to marvel at the splendour and magnificence of the first wall hanging as Fred and Kate carefully unwrapped it on this huge white table.

Our very large workspace is made from 30 individual tables.

There are seven wall hangings in the collection and each measure just under seven by four meters. I could not help but think of the countless hours and effort gone into the creation of such a beautiful textile. Everyone stared in awe from the first floor of the gallery from where you can have a panoramic view of the wall hanging. The hanging depicts the county of Kent.

The aim of the conservation project is to make the hanging sufficiently stable for display. Following conservation, the hanging will be hung by means of Velcro™ and supported on a sloping display board protected behind glass within a bespoke display case. A lot of work will need to be done before this can safely happen.

A year ago Kate carried out an initial condition assessment and suggested an outline conservation treatment plan.

The Kent wall hanging was chosen as the first because it had more problem areas, like an inappropriate early repaired seam, which caused damage and two small holes with frayed edges.

Kent unveiled!

So, we were all set to go! I could not help feeling the rush of adrenaline down my spine as I was about to become physically involved in the conservation and preservation of such a massive piece of art.

The initial preparation stages

Due to sixty years of being stored rolled up the textile was severely distorted and creased. Firstly, Kate carefully aligned the hanging as best as possible to the edge of the table and thoroughly examined the fabric and condition of the hanging; documenting and noting down areas of weakness and analysing and further evaluating the different treatment options available.

I learnt quite quickly that forward-planning is crucial in this line of work, especially when treating such a large object – it felt like having a plan of attack on a battle field! You have to think of every possibility in detail and most importantly, consider the best and worst case scenarios that could occur and be prepared for it! This initial stage of forward planning, although time-consuming, is of paramount importance and also allows for the workload to be streamlined at the later stages.

First things first… Kate Gill establishes a registration point along the uneven edge of the hanging to determine the positioning of the Velcro™ support mechanism.

An image of the hanging was marked out in one metre squares to help keep track of progress.

Following this, the hanging was surface cleaned on both sides using a variable controlled suction vacuum cleaner…a process that took most of my whole week. Ouch, my poor knees!

Keep tuned for more on the conservation of this hanging! It is also free to view the Hangings as they are being conserved within the gallery.

Coopering in the MERL collections

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Greta Bertram

Since May I’ve been working on the Reading Engaged project to research content for the new galleries which will form part of MERL’s redevelopment project, Our Country Lives. True to my passions as ever, I’ve been taking the opportunity to focus on researching craft, as we’re hoping to dedicate a large part of one of the galleries to craft. We hope to use different crafts that we have examples of in our collections to highlight key issues affecting the heritage craft sector, bearing in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all story for craft. We also want to ensure that the galleries are up to date and reflect the current state of making and show the many varied and vibrant ways in which these crafts exist today.

One of the crafts I’ve researched so far is coopering. The only things I knew before I started came from the headline ‘only one Master Cooper left in England’ and from watching the fantastic video of a cooper knocking up a cask that we currently have on display in the Museum. When you start to think about it, you realise how incredible coopering really is. Ken Kilby, author of several books on the craft, describes the barrel as ‘the greatest invention of all time’ for without it ‘most goods would have remained right where they were made, or not have been made at all.’

Cooper holding finished cask bound with many hoops (P DX318 PH1/41/83)

Casks (the term ‘barrel’ describes a particular size of cask) were used to transport all sorts of goods, wet and dry. Over the centuries, coopering gradually divided itself into three main branches, with an acceptance among coopers that certain branches were more skilled than others. The main categories are dry coopering (least skilled), white coopering and wet coopering (most skilled). When you think about it, it really is quite incredible to be able to make a watertight cask of a specified size which can withstand long years of rough handling with no glue or sealants, and hardly any measurements! Another great Ken Kilby quote: ‘There are no amateur barrel makers.’

By the end of the nineteenth century, the majority of cooperages were found in breweries, when Britain was brewing approximately 37 million gallons of beer. In 1889, Bass’s Brewery at Burton on Trent employed 400 coopers; and circa 1900 Shooters, Chippingdale and Colliers employed 630 coopers! Until World War II, coopering had seemed a secure occupation but by the 1950s most of the independent cooperages in Britain had closed, and during the 1950s–1970s wooden casks were phased out of the larger breweries. By 2010 only 4 breweries still employed a qualified cooper, and today Theakston’s are the only brewery to do so.

We have about 80 coopering tools at MERL, along with various coopered products including cider kegs, butter churns, cheese moulds and buckets. The majority of the tools come from two sets: one from the cooper’s shop at H. & G. Simonds Ltd., known as the Bridge Street Brewery, in Reading; the other from a cooper who served his apprenticeship at Reading Brewery 1948–1952 (we also have his certificate of indenture for his apprenticeship). The first set is currently on display in the Museum galleries. Take a look at the tools on our online database.

I’ve been working to create a ‘content pack’ for each craft I research. This includes reading up on the subject and writing introductory notes, looking at the related objects we have in the collections and identifying particular objects which can be used to illustrate specific points and, with the help of Danni and Caroline, investigating the Archives to see what we have in terms of documents and photographs. I’ve also been in contact with Alistair Simms, England’s only Master Cooper (to become a Master Cooper you must have successfully trained an apprentice), who I’m hoping to visit in September, and Theakston’s Brewery.

If you want to find out more about coopering, come along to MERL on Saturday 23 August when Marshall Scheetz, historian and Journeyman Cooper at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, USA, will be giving ‘An introduction to cooperage’. The talk is free. Details here.

Written by Greta Bertram, Project Officer.

Our Country Lives goes ahead with £1.7m HLF grant

Posted on June 25, 2014 by merl

We are all very pleased and excited to announce that we have been successful in securing a further £1.7m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, in order to redevelop MERL as part of the Our Country Lives project! You can see our press release here.

As it was #MusCake day this week as well, we thought we’d celebrate with an Our Country Lives themed cake.

That we have got to this stage is testament to the huge amount of work we’ve already done in reviewing what we as a Museum stand for, and our plan for how we can best tell the story of English rural life to our visitors. One of the main reasons for redeveloping MERL is that we’re aware that there is a new generation of visitors who need different ways of engaging with our rural heritage through new, themed displays, innovative interpretation and an exciting programme of activities. The galleries will be more engaging for adults and children alike, with things to interact with in the galleries, handling opportunities and far more digital interpretation of the collections, which will display the incredible depth and variety of our Archives, including film and photography.

Visitor evaluation – as it should – has played a big part in directing our work. The majority of our visitors do not live in the countryside, so we aim to reveal the relevance of the countryside to those whose lives have been spent in towns and cities. However, just because someone lives in the city obviously doesn’t mean they don’t have experience of or are entirely unaware of the countryside. As such, we will be exploring various popular themes such as craft and craftspeople, how we view and perceive the countryside, and invite our visitors to tell us what they think of contemporary issues, such as climate change, food security and the relationship between town and country. We will also be focusing far more on the people, past and present, who make up the countryside, and what their stories can tell us about our continuing countryside story.

Staff and volunteers celebrated the news yesterday.

There is almost too much to tell you about in this one blog post – for instance, we’re uncovering displays unseen since the ‘50s (such as our amazing Festival of Britain wall hangings – see below), building a new gallery, creating new spaces for learning and exploring our collections digitally, embarking on an exciting three year programme of new events and activities – the list could go on (and does so here). For now, we’ve taken a breather to celebrate with cake and to take a month or so to make all the preparations necessary to start on the project proper.

One of the best ways to keep up with progress on the project will be this blog, but we’re also working on various other ways you can see what we’re doing behind the scenes, and what you can expect in the new MERL. We would also like to say thank you to all of those who have helped us get this far in the project: MERL staff, our funders, our consultants GuM and Cultural Consulting, the University of Reading, and of course our fabulous volunteers.

One of Michael O’Connell’s 1951 wall hangings will feature in the new MERL.

Our Country Lives update: Volunteering opportunities

Posted on June 9, 2014 by merl

Written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer for Our Country Lives.

Since last week was National Volunteering Week, I thought it would be worth dwelling on the volunteering opportunities for this week’s update. Volunteers play a massive part in the operation of MERL, from staffing events to carrying out vital work on the conservation of objects, cataloguing archives and welcoming visitors on the front desk (see Rob’s post for more on why we love our volunteers).

A lot of our Mezzanine objects are going to have to be moved around later this year (Click the picture to see it move!).

Volunteers, of course, come from many walks of life and give up their time in museums for different reasons. Some volunteer as a way to build up their experience in the hope of one day working in a museum for money, a position I was in only a year ago. Others volunteer to meet people, to fill their days, or simply because they have a passion for our collections or subject matter.

Volunteers played a huge role in our recent Summer Fete.

We will hear in the next couple of weeks whether our HLF bid has been successful, and if so we are especially going to need the help of our volunteers, both old and new. It will be a unique volunteering experience as it means having a hand in a major Heritage Lottery Fund project, which is going to change the face of MERL and how we do things. If the project goes ahead then we will have to close for building work, but during this period we are going to need many able hands to help move our objects around the Museum, erect dust protection, deconstruct the current displays, record where every object has been moved to, as well as ensure nothing has been missed or broken. Later in the project we will also need help putting all of the objects back, erect the new displays, research the collections and catalogue objects and archives which will be displayed in the new Museum. We also have a range of exciting new projects for which we really want your help both setting up and being involved in (more on these in a later update!).

In conclusion, we will need all the help we can get, and we are dedicated to helping our volunteers get what they want from us. We will be putting out a proper call for what we need nearer to when we close the Museum, but until then please keep checking in on the blog for more on what Our Country Lives will be about.

Our Country Lives – the new MERL blog

Sharing insights into the activities of MERL staff, volunteers and visitors during a period of change and transformation…

Tag Archives: Our Country Lives