An A-Z of the University’s Museums and Collections

Earlier this month the University of Reading’s Museums and Collections collaborated on an exciting project for @52Museums on Instagram. The 52 Museums programme, which began in January 2016, sees a new museum taking over the running of the 52 Museums Instagram and Twitter page each week in order to share their collections, exhibitions, achievements and more with the world.

To best showcase our fantastic range of collections we produced an A-Z guide or ‘instaphabet’ featuring lettering from our Typography collection and Special Collections Library alongside art, artefacts and anecdotes from the Museum of English Rural Life, Cole Museum of Zoology, URE Museum of Greek Archaeology, our Herbarium, Art collection and Volunteers.

Some of the highlights from the Special Collections Library and Archive include:

D is for De la Rue

The De la Rue printing firm was founded in Bunhill Row, London in 1837. It manufactured Christmas and other social stationery, playing cards, stamps and railway tickets, and undertook security printing.
Our collection consists of correspondence, financial papers, designs and specimens from the period 1837-1965; including designs for Reading’s famous Huntley and Palmers Biscuit Company.

R is for Ruralia Commoda

The Ruralia commoda is the oldest printed book in our rare book collections. Written by Petrus de Crescentius in 1471, it is an early agricultural manual, and is said by some to have been the most important original medieval work on agriculture, husbandry and horticulture.

Y is for Yellow Brick Road

This beautiful illustration of the Yellow Brick Road by W.W. Denslow is from our 1st edition copy of ‘The wonderful wizard of Oz’ by L. Frank Baum (1900). Our Special Collections Library is home to a fantastic Wizard of Oz collection, comprising around 800 volumes, including many editions and translations of The Wizard of Oz, and other associated items.