Farewell to Eva Marie Saint, the sharpest and sexiest of the Hitchcock blondes who got to wear one of the best dresses in cinema history
Guy Baxter
@archivesgb.bsky.social
Listening age of 68, which is bizarrely only slightly older than that of my teenage kids
Well I guess the nice thing about cleaning the house for guests is that you are, against all odds, also cleaning the house for yourself
🧬 How is technology shaping and being reshaped within the research library? In an era of rapid technological change, how can we keep human needs, values & relationships at the centre of infrastructural developments? 🧬 #RLUK27 will explore this & more ⏳ #CFP open is open at rlukconference.com
16 October 2026, 11.00 - 15.00. Location: Lasting Impressions Gallery. (Free, drop in.) Visitors to the Museum will have the opportunity to enter this collection space, speak with the Library and Archives team, and view a selection of material from across the collections. #NaturalHistoryMuseum
I am so glad my team are concentrating on the really important things!
I’ve been racking my brains trying to think of a suitable new way to refer to the inimitable and excellent @archivesgb.bsky.social as he ascends to the directorship. All the funny rural leadership names I can think of have negative connotations. Any thoughts?
So I have some news…
We're delighted to share that Guy Baxter (Head of Archive Services) will become our new Director from the end of October. Guy succeeds Kate Arnold-Forster, whose retirement concludes an exceptional career. https://merl.reading.ac.uk/news-and-views/guy-baxter-new-director/
🚨 #MUSEUMJOBS KLAXON🚨 We're looking for a Senior Digitiser and two Digitisers to work across @zoologymuseum.bsky.social & @camplantsci.bsky.social to help create biodiversity data for the researchers who need it, through #DiSSCoUK. 1. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/senior-... 2. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/digitis...
Got sent this earlier… made me chuckle at the end of a busy day. Frankly I’m flattered by the comparison to one of my favourite female forecasters! #Scorchio @thefastshow.bsky.social
The initial advance party would do their best, with an incredible amount of mechanical equipment, to begin prepping the land in 1947 and 1948. They even made a film, which you can view here at @themerl.bsky.social's digital reading room!
Colour film entitled 'The Groundnut Scheme at Kongwa Tanganyika'
vrr.reading.ac.uk
Absolute Units returns - again! In the episode we meant to release last Thursday (lol), we pick up once more with @guyshrubsole.bsky.social to continue exploring the land ownership and access in rural England. This time, with a specific focus on hunting. merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...
Absolute Units podcast - The Museum of English Rural Life
Come for the big sheep. Stay for the history of rural England and its people.
merl.reading.ac.uk
We’re thrilled to see Stephen Dwoskin make the BFI “10 great British films of 1976” for his film “Central Bazaar”. The University of Reading Special Collections holds Dwoskin’s archive, a wealth of material covering all aspects of his film-making work, his personal life, and the period he lived in.
📢 Call for Applications 📢 Writer in Residence: Blooming Bloomsbury and the Modernist Archives Publishing Project -Creativity and Community Co-Curation (2026) 📅 Application deadline: midnight, Monday 18 May 2026 For full details and to apply, please visit the link below. 👇
We're at the stunning British Academy in London preparing for the formal launch of the Libraries Alliance later this morning. Libraries of all kinds are coming together as a unified voice, showing how libraries support people through every stage of life. Find out more: librariesalliance.org.uk
Analysis | Preserving the heritage of the Russia-Ukraine war Museums’ efforts to collect artefacts and document testimonies about the Russian invasion are being hampered by a lack of funding to repair damaged facilities, writes Rob Sharp.
Preserving the heritage of the Russia-Ukraine war - Museums Association
Museums’ efforts to collect artefacts and document testimonies about the Russian invasion are being hampered by a lack of funding to repair damaged facilities
museumsassociation.org
Right now we have hundreds of mice and lobsters making their way across the world. And we think that's beautiful. We can't guarantee new international orders will get to you by Christmas, but there's still time for people ordering in the UK! merl-shop.co.uk/shop/curiosi...
My new album LIAR (Love Isn't A Right) is out on Friday. Pre-save or get a limited signed copy: ttikaram.lnk.to/LIAR
For #NationalLibraryWeek, take a look inside our main library (normally staff only)! 📖 This wing of the Herbarium was built in 1969. It houses just a fraction of the library collections which include books, maps & artworks, & spans a whopping 9 km of shelving! #KewLA 👉 https://ow.ly/PVRv50X6WEk
hello if you're interested in what our learning team has been up to in the last year, boy do we have the blogpost for you merl.reading.ac.uk/blog/2025/07...
Our school year - The Museum of English Rural Life
Learn about the highlights of our schools and learning programmes from the 2024/25 academic year.
merl.reading.ac.uk
At 78cm tall, this 1770 edition of Giovanni Piranesi’s ‘Colonna di Trajano e di Antonio Pio’ is one of the largest books in our collection. It is full of beautiful engravings, as well as a fold out illustration of Trajan’s column that’s over 2m long! [Overstone L 1H/01]
Not all big stories are in big books. This children’s book from 1740 may be about giants, but it’s only 7cm tall! [CC 942 BOR]
Part 3 #History students working with the #Hiroshima collection @ University of Reading Special Collections 💚 big thank you to @archivesgb.bsky.social 🙏
*taps mic* we're launching a podcast! Here's a round-up of our highlights for the months ahead: from a blockbuster garden exhibition, to free talks and tours (online and in-person), and the pilot of our very own podcast, Absolute Units. merl.reading.ac.uk/blog/2025/02...
To keep fragile or small items protected, some of our material is stored in boxes like these. This tiny ‘Book of Nouns’ from 1800 may seem normal size on the shelf, but in reality it’s only 6cm tall! [C.C. 423 BOO]