Day schools
New days schools programme for 2010/11
The University Museums and Special Collections Service is launching a programme of day schools in October this year. Participants will be able to expand their knowledge of a diverse range of subjects; learn from experts in a field that intrigues them; engage with the fabulous collections held by Reading University; meet UMASCS curatorial and archive staff and see 'behind the scenes'.
These will be informal sessions, with no accreditation and no homework.
2011
Creative writing
Postponed. Please contact us if you are interested in this course to receive details of the new date as soon as it is rescheduled.
- £40
- Booking required
- Tea & coffee included
- Bring a packed lunch or order a sandwich lunch when you book
Tutor: Rebecca Reynolds
Venue: Museum of English Rural Life
The collections of the Museum of English Rural Life will offer inspiration for those signing up for the Creative Writing day school. Rebecca Reynolds is bringing her experience of tutoring at the V&A to Reading, for this opportunity to explore the potential of the Museum’s extraordinary collections as a source for developing writing skills.
Countryside for townies: Marketing, public imagination, and the English countryside 1900-2010
Saturday 12th February, 2011, 10am to 4pm
- £40
- Booking required
- Tea & coffee included
- Bring a packed lunch or order a sandwich lunch when you book
Tutor: Oliver Green, Research Fellow, London Transport Museum
Venue: Museum of English Rural Life
Join historian Oliver Green for this day school exploring the way the English countryside and rural life have been presented to an increasingly urban audience through art, posters and advertising. Items from the University of Reading's Special Collections will be used to illustrate this theme. They include fascinating and eye catching publicity materials produced by organisations such as Shell Oil, London Transport, and The Post Office - as well as propaganda produced during wartime for the Ministry of Information.
History of baskets and basket making
Saturday 26th March, 2011, 10am to 4pm
- £40
- Booking required
- Tea & coffee included
- Bring a packed lunch or order a sandwich lunch when you book
Tutor: Maurice Bichard
Venue: Museum of English Rural Life
Maurice Bichard is author ‘Baskets of Europe’ and a renowned expert in this fascinating field. This day school will look at the social and economic history of basket making. There will be opportunities to explore the basket collection at MERL and to encounter some of Dr. Bichard’s personal basketry collection.
Gift of the Nile: Greeks and Egyptians
Saturday 7th May, 2011, 10am to 4pm
- £40
- Booking required
- Tea & coffee included
- Bring a packed lunch or order a sandwich lunch when you book
Tutors: Ian Rutherford, Nick West, Phiroze Vasunia, Amy Smith, Gill Knight
Venue: Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, Whiteknights campus
This day school will be dedicated to a study of the interaction of Ancient Greeks and Egyptians, through trade and politics, as evidenced in their literature and other cultural manifestations. As well as learning about their languages and literatures, participants will have an opportunity to study and understand the significance of select Greek and Roman artefacts in the Ure Museum and how they reflect the interactions of these ancient societies.
2010
Researching the history of Reading, in association with Berkshire Record Office
Saturday 4th December, 10am to 4pm
- £40
- Booking required
- Tea & coffee included
- Bring a packed lunch or order a sandwich lunch when you book
Tutors: Joan Dils, local history tutor, and Peter Durrant, County Archivist for Berkshire
Venue: Museum of English Rural Life
This day will be of interest to both armchair enquirers and avid local history research buffs. All welcome, whether long standing residents, or newcomers keen to learn about the history of the town. The day will be based on the collections of the Berkshire Record Office and the University of Reading.