News Archive

University Museum awarded lottery grant for new English culture project – University of Reading

The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) is just one of only 22 museums and galleries across the UK to benefit from the Heritage Lottery Fund's £3 million collection development initiative, Collecting Cultures, announced today.

MERL, which is owned and managed by the University of Reading, will be using the £95,000 funding to build a fascinating picture of English rural culture in the twentieth century.

The project will track through the century, decade by decade, collecting signal items that speak powerfully of that era. For each decade, a different expert is going to produce a commentary on why those items stand for what was happening in the countryside and rural culture at the time.

Dr Roy Brigden, Keeper of the Museum, said: "We are delighted and extremely grateful that MERL has been given this grant and to be a part of Heritage Lottery Fund's (HLF) initiative. This is completely new territory for MERL. Never before have we had the money and the opportunity to construct a considered programme of targeted collecting. It puts us right in the vanguard of current museum practice.

"Many thanks to everybody at the University who was involved in our successful application, which showed the HLF we really value the public's involvement and support in making our collections as enjoyable as possible. We will be searching for ways of engaging with the public during the course of the project and are very much looking forward to getting people involved with the discussion and decisions on what items to choose."

The Heritage Lottery Fund awards come under the Fund's Collecting Cultures scheme which is designed to help support acquisitions, curatorial skills, research and increased public involvement.

MERL was chosen from 95 museums and galleries who submitted applications that totalled £13.3million. Grants awarded range from £50,000 to £200,000, with museums and galleries from every country and region in the UK having at least one successful application.

Other collections that will be developed as a result of this HLF investment include: a range of 18th-century bagpipes; Inuit art and artefacts; memorabilia from Belfast's world-famous Titanic; exquisite Tain silver such as dirks, luckenbooth brooches and quaichs (a type of shallow, two-handled drinking cup or bowl); trainers, boots and fashion footwear from the shoe capital of Northampton; and wallpaper ranging from William Morris's delicate nature-inspired designs of the 1800s to Peter Jones' bold primary colour prints from the 1970s.

Dame Liz Forgan, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: "The 22 successful projects are extraordinarily diverse – a real treasure trove of collections from very large national museums to smaller more specialised galleries. There really is something for everyone here from the classic to the modern."

For more information about the Museum of English Rural Life, please contact Alison Hilton, marketing officer, on 0118 378 8660

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Notes for Editors:

1. More information about the Museum of English Rural Life

The Museum of English Rural Life, in Redlands Road, Reading, was founded by the University of Reading in 1951 to reflect and record the changing face of farming and the countryside. It houses designated collections of national importance that span the full range of objects, archives, photographs, film and books. Today, it forms part of the University's Museums and Collections Service. The Museum operates as a major resource and research centre for the history of food, farming and the countryside with links into the School of History and other academic departments at the University.

2.The Museum of English Rural Life is part of the Thames Valley Museums (TVM) Family Friendly campaign – a scheme which brings together 30 museums across Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, to promote their popular appeal to the whole family. The Family Friendly logo provides an instantly recognisable guarantee of quality family friendly facilities at member museums. The TVM Family Friendly Initiative is part of the Tourism South East Family Fun campaign and is funded in part by Renaissance in the Regions – the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council's (MLA) groundbreaking programme to transform England's regional museums and galleries.

3. More information About the University of Reading

The University of Reading is one of the foremost research-led universities in the UK. Founded in the nineteenth century and gaining a Royal Charter in 1926, we offer a wide range of programmes from the pure and applied sciences to languages, social sciences and fine art. New research and the latest thinking continually feed into undergraduate teaching, with our academic staff working at the forefront of their fields of expertise.

For all University of Reading media enquiries please contact James Barr, Press Officer tel 0118 378 7115 or email j.w.barr@reading.ac.ukCollecting Cultures is a one-off museums and galleries collections' development programme; it was devised as a direct result of discussions initiated by HLF Chair, Dame Liz Forgan, in 2006 and through continued consultation₁ with the sector. It is unique in providing curators with a sum of money for strategic collections development rather than having to wait for a painting or object to become available on the art market and then applying for HLF support.

For the Heritage Lottery Fund, please contact Katie Owen, HLF Press Office, on tel: 020 7591 6036 mobile: 07973 613820.