The Rural History Centre
Address: The University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 229, Reading, Berkshire RG6 6AG, England. Telephone: (0118)9318660. Fax: 0118 9751264
Archives and Business Records
The Rural History Centre is a major national repository for archives of agriculture and rural life.
Trade Records
Business records of firms in agricultural engineering, processing, and farm and garden seed production. Some of the principal deposits are:
John Allen & Sons (Oxford) Ltd, engineers
Bomford & Evershed Ltd, engineers
Clayton & Shuttleworth, engineers
John Fowler & Co (Leeds) Ltd
R Hunt & Co Ltd, Earls Colne, engineers
International Harvester Company of Great Britain
Lawes Chemical Company
McHattie & Co Ltd, seedsmen
Marshall, Sons & Co
Nalder & Nalder Ltd
Nitrate Corporation of Chile
Ranks Hovis McDougall Ltd
Ransomes Sims & Jefferies Ltd
Suttons Seeds
Wallis & Steevens Ltd, engineers
Wantage Engineering Co Ltd
Society Records
Records of major organisations connected with agriculture and the countryside are deposited at the Rural History Centre, including:
- Council for the Protection of Rural England
- Country Landowners Association
- National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers
- National Farmers' Union
- Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution
- Royal Agricultural Society of England
Co-operative Records
Records of agricultural trading co-operatives
Other Records
The Centre holds a wide range of other archives covering such subjects as crafts and rural industries; literary papers; research papers; scientific papers.
Deposits include:
Beaven. Research papers of E.S.Beaven on barley and malt
Bellerby. Research papers of J.R.Bellerby, agricultural economist
Hunter. Papers of Herbert Hunter, agricultural scientist
Parry. Papers of H.D.Parry, agricultural biologist, on scrapie
Stapledon. Papers of Sir George Stapledon, on grassland development
Further details are given in the Document Collection summary guide
Further Details
Summary guides to collections are available:
These collections may be consulted by appointment with the Business Records Officer, Dr Jonathan Brown (The Rural History Centre, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 229, Reading, Berkshire, England; telephone 0118 9318666, fax 0118 9751264)
The Archives collection also includes Farm records
Connect to catalogue
To: The University of Reading
main page. Rural History Centre
main page.
Archives and Business Records/Rural History Centre/rhc@reading.ac.uk