Are you ready for a revolution?
Encounter the influence of the technology industry on our town’s past, present and future.
A ground-breaking exhibition charting the rise of Reading’s role in the UK’s ‘Silicon Valley’, opening 18 March 2025.
#museum #technology #rdguk
What is this boy about to do?
If you know about Reading’s history, you might have an idea.
The boy is doing a cartwheel – part of a three piece artwork of cartwheeling boys. The artwork was a gift from the twin town of Dusseldorf and commemorates years of friendship between the two towns. Cartwheeling has been a tradition in Dusseldorf for centuries.
The drawing is a design for the sculpture, previously on display opposite Reading Borough Council's former offices. It got damaged during a storm in 2022 but is now back on display on the wall of the Civic Centre.
🖼️ 2001.15.4
📷 Reading Museum
#FridayFinds #Dusseldorf #ReadingHistory
Reading Museum has loaned one of its most distinctive objects to the V&A East’s new exhibition The Music Is Black: A British Story. The object is an early 20th century African thumb piano, ingeniously made using a Huntley & Palmers biscuit tin, a small object with a powerful global story.
Known as a mbira, kalimba or sanza, this thumb piano transforms an iconic Reading export into a living piece of African musical heritage. Made in Africa using a reused biscuit tin, it speaks to creativity, resilience and cultural continuity, while also reflecting the worldwide reach of Reading’s most famous industry.
The thumb piano brings together music, industry and empire. The tin is a product of industrial Reading and imperial trade; its reuse reflects adaptation under colonial conditions. Displayed in The Music Is Black, the object contributes to an exhibition that foregrounds Black musicianship, lived experience and community storytelling with clarity and care.
Museums don’t keep collections to themselves. Carefully managed loans allow objects to be seen in new contexts, reaching wider audiences and contributing to shared national stories.
For more on the exhibition see /music_ca8zT
🎹 1997.162.18
Reading Museum
#FridayFinds @vam_east
Follow a @uniofreading professor down a medieval history rabbit hole to find out who might have made the Sumer is Icumen in manuscript, and where.
Don't miss your very last chance to see the famous manuscript in Reading, back in the town for the first time in over 750 years. On display until Saturday 9 May!
On loan from @britishlibrary , generously supported by the Dorset Foundation, in memory of Harry M Weinrebe.
#rdguk #oxford #britishlibrary #medieval #manuscript
All roads lead to Reading, and that is certified by a @uniofreading Medieval History professor.
The Sumer is Icumen in manuscript, which belonged to Reading Abbey, is on display at Reading Museum until Saturday 9 May. This is your last chance to see this famous manuscript just metres from the Abbey Quarter where it was likely composed over 750 years ago. Don't miss it!
On loan from the @britishlibrary , generously supported by the Dorset Foundation, in memory of Harry M Weinrebe.
#rdguk #britishlibrary #medieval #manuscript
The Reading Rota is on display for one final week. This amazing medieval text is so special to the history of Reading and the loan from the British Library has enabled us to have it on display for all to see. Do pop in before 9th May to see it!
🌟 Happy May Day! Celebrate the coming of spring with us and join in with a performance workshop singing 'Sumer Is Icumen In' tomorrow at 12pm in our Welcome Gallery. No experience needed and all ages/abilities welcome. She+ choir will be performing, and coaching you to sing this beautiful hymn for Spring 🌻 No need to book, just turn up on the day and bring your singing voices!! 🎵
It's May Day! A celebration of spring with many traditional customs.
Here's a photo of Maypole dancing from 1934. The children from St. John's School on Watlington Street in Reading are creating an interesting pattern with their ribbons!
The photo was taken by a Reading Chronicle photographer as part of a series of photographs entitled 'A Pictorial Survey of Reading Schools 1934'.
🖼️ Object no. 2016.64.17
Reading Chronicle Collection, Reading Museum
#FridayFinds
The Reading Walks Festival is nearly here!
Join Reading Museum in May for two walks Tech Town and our Abbey Quarter Walking Tour
To book visit our website (see bio for link)
Local Reading artist Cath Baldwin has designed a unique, limited-edition t-shirt, available in the Reading Museum Shop:
Visit our Shop page for more info.
Decode the Sumer is Icumen in manuscript, step-by-step with a @uniofreading Medieval History Professor. Discover why the Sumer is Icumen in manuscript is impressive as a piece of work by a scribe who shows expertise both in handling the medieval version of musical notes, or neumes, and fitting a lot of complicated information closely together onto the page.
The manuscript is on display at Reading Museum until 9 May.
And on Saturday 2 May, don't miss Professor Anne Lawrence-Mathers' talk at Reading Museum exploring the manuscript's surprisingly wide-ranging contents – from 'fortune-telling' texts, medical recipes, lists of medicinal plants, to works by Marie de France, and instructions for fashionable styles of singing.
On loan from @britishlibrary , generously supported by the Dorset Foundation, in memory of Harry M Weinrebe.
#rdguk #britishlibrary #medieval #manuscript
Reading has a rich engineering heritage, making items like this Pulsometer vacuum pump. This Geryk air pump creates very high vacuums, making them essential tools for scientific and laboratory work.
Interested to find out more? Our new Pulsometer 125 display is now open, celebrating 125 years of Pulsometer Engineering (now SPP Pumps).
Object no. 2025.48.1
Reading Museum collection
#FridayFinds
🌳 Reading Museum Shop is proud to support local publishers Two Rivers Press..
🌍 In honour of Earth Day yesterday here is a selection of some of our favourite books about nature, available in-store or online:
🔎 Search the shop page on our website for more info.
#RDG #RDGUK #EarthDay #ShopLocal
