Rural Museums Network

Image credit: the Food Museum

In December 2025, we invited everyone to join us to hear how two RMN member organisations are approaching Audit and Rationalisation in their museums – one at the start of their journey with small objects, the other further through but with larger items.

The Ulster Folk Museum (UFM) began collecting many years before the creation and opening of the UFM in 1964 to the public. Initially a department of Folk Life within the Ulster Museum, the museum opened with a large collection already. The museum’s collection grew to include many original vernacular buildings which needed to be furnished authentically. Many decades without a collecting policy led to very limited storage and collections which do not fit in with their current and potential future needs. They need radical rationalisation!

The Food Museum recognised that it had a collection that had been growing since the 1950s, with poor documentation and deteriorating storage. To keep the museum relevant and ensure that visitors discover something new and are challenged during their visit it was essential to get the back of house in order. With 40,000 objects, a small staff team, a global pandemic and water coming through the roof, they had to find a way to record and make their collections knowledge accessible so they could develop the museum for the future. 

This included:

• Mass involvement of remote volunteers from around the world
• Going digital; putting their card index online and photographing their collection
• Carrying out a collections audit, starting with objects larger than a chair
• Reviewing and returning loans
• Investing in their research
• Public communication, explaining difficult choices

Top three practical tips to take away from the session:

• How to break down a daunting project and make positive change OR You’ve got to just start!
• Auditing your collection takes far more time than you could imagine, but each time you learn something about your collection is a massive step forward
• Thinking about volunteering differently made this project possible

This session was hosted by Lisa Harris, Collections Manager at the Food Museum.

A recording of this seminar is available to view on the Rural Museums Network’s YouTube Channel here>>

Image credit: A tractor, as seen in The Mall, London, during the farm protests in November 2024. The tractor is adorned with a sign reading ‘The Final Straw’ (Photo by Felicity McWilliams).

Moments of rural unrest can be long-simmering or very short-lived. They can be explosively public or orchestrated in hidden ways by secretive perpetrators of direct action. They can be linked to wider social and cultural moments and movements or may be part of parochial or pastoral concerns. So, how do we begin to grapple with these slippery histories through museum practice?

From interrogating the archive for clues to past uprisings to immersive explorations of contemporary movements, and from retrospective acquisition long after ephemeral events have passed to the challenges of rapid response collecting, this seminar will attempt to explore the who, what, how, where, and why of rural protest. We will combine the perspective of a social scientist attempting to infiltrate and investigate current farm campaigns and movements, the carefully researched understanding of an historian of contested rural space, with reflections from our own community on different ways that museums might seek to answer the call.

So, we asked participants to this seminar in November 2025 to paint their questions on a metaphorical placard, share their thoughts on a conceptual banner, and to join us we marched our way to the heart of this fascinating museological challenge.

This session was hosted by Ollie Douglas, Curator at the Museum of English Rural Life.

Tom Carter-Brookes is an environmental activist and second year Leverhulme Doctoral Scholar looking at sustainable rural futures. His previous research looked at the intersections between the 2024 Welsh Farmer Protests and resistance to net-zero policies in agriculture. His ongoing PhD work looks at the wider contestations of green agricultural transitions in the UK and how this plays out in the everyday lives of farmers.

Ollie Douglas is Curator of the Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL), University of Reading. He narrowly escaped a life on the farm, only to find himself in a big shed of rural stuff, working to engage diverse stakeholders in the heritage and history of food, farming, and the countryside. He served as President of the ICOM-affiliated International Association of Agricultural Museums and on the committees of the Rural Museums Network, Folklore Society, and Museum Ethnographers’ Group. He currently serves on the committee of the British Agricultural History Society and is co-host of The MERL podcast, Absolute Units.

Katrina Navickas is Professor of History at the University of Hertfordshire. She researches the history of protest, public space, and landscapes in England. Her next book, Contested Commons: a History of Protest and Public Space in England, will be published by Reaktion Books in November 2025. She was MERL Open Spaces Society fellow, 2020–2021. She is a founder of the Rural Modernism Network, examining twentieth century infrastructure in rural environments.

Presentations from Ollie Douglas and Katrina Navickas are available to view on the Rural Museums Network’s YouTube Channel here>>

Ploughing on Aylestone Hill, Hereford, c.1920s (Basil Butcher / Derek Foxton)

Following our AGM in October 2025, we were delighted to welcome Bob Powell, a specialist in historic farming and vernacular buildings, but primarily heavy horses. He is a former Curator of the Weald & Downland Living Museum, and retired in 2014 as High Life Highland’s Principal Museums Officer (where he preferred to be called the Curator of the 90-acre Highland Folk Museum).

He is a past board member of the Association for Living History, Farm, and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM) and is on the executive committee of the Association for International Museums of Agriculture (AIMA).

Bob’s presentation on Herefordshire ‘Cart Horse’ History was initially created for the Herefordshire Family History Society, as his paternal family were Herefordshire farmers and ‘halliers’ in the 1800s. With his lifelong ‘obsession’ with heavy horses and farming, married with his professional interests in related material and non-material culture, it was a ‘no brainer’ to bring his specialist subjects together.

We were delighted when he suggested he develop this presentation for the Rural Museums Network – this topic is literally in Bob’s DNA. 

Furthermore, he was keen to encourage Rural Museums Network members, and those working in related fields, to develop a personal interest, a specialism within our intended careers. He feels that this is maybe an outdated approach in some museums, but that there is an ongoing need for specialists to be tradition and knowledge bearers.

In his own words, Bob recommends that we “engage with, listen and learn from the ‘old folks’ – there are fewer of us left!”

Bob’s talk is available to view on the Rural Museums Network’s YouTube Channel here>>

In May 2025, a joint Rural Museums Network and International Association of Agricultural Museums (AIMA) sharing event.

The Museum of English Rural Life (The MERL) at the University of Reading, UK, welcomed both Rural Museum Network and AIMA members to see the Museum, and to hear about recent developments addressing environment sustainability, colonialism, and reinterpreting our collections to include more diverse rural and urban communities.

Recording of sessions from the Back on Track conference are available to view on the Rural Museums Network’s YouTube Channel here>>

Image credit: Dingwall Museum

The indigenous languages of the British Isles carry with them history and culture which can bring depth to museum collections, interpretations and community outreach. But to non-speakers they can often feel daunting.

During a seminar held in May 2025, speakers of Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Cornish and Welsh discussed ways in which rural museums could become allies of their local languages. Including volunteer and staff developement, ‘easy wins’, case studies and working with universities, colleges and learning centres, this seminar helped participants feel empowered to engage with and celebrate their local languages.

This session was hosted by Rachel Thomas, museum curator and conservator, based in Inverness.

Jowdy Davey has worked in strategic development in the cultural sector for over 20 years. She is a Cornish speaker and Bard of Gorsedh Kernow, and became Cornish Language Lead at Cornwall Council in January 2023. She has an interest in the wider intangible cultural heritage of Cornwall, and is keenly involved in Cornwall’s traditional music, dance and song scene.

Dr Dónal McAnallen is National Museums NI Library & Archives Manager. Having responsibility for the museums’ Ulster Language and Dialect Archive, he has produced the Cúl Trá-il and Rhymin Rab’s Ramble, published Irish and Ulster-Scots trails of Ulster Folk Museum. He is also a part-time lecturer in History at University College Cork, and editor of the local history journal, Dúiche Néill.

Owen Shiers is a Ceredigion native and grew up immersed in Welsh music, from the sonorous melodies emanating from his father’s harp workshop to school life and festivals such as the Eisteddfod and Cnapan.

Owen has plied his skills as a musician, composer and producer across a multitude of projects and genres, but in most recent years has been focusing on his project ‘Cynefin’, which bids to give a modern voice to Ceredigion’s rich yet neglected cultural heritage. Nominated for three awards at the 2023 Wales Folk awards, Owen has been described by the Guardian as a ‘stunning new talent’.

Anna MacQuarrie (NicGuaire) is a Gaelic museum and heritage specialist, currently freelancing after many years employed in curatorial and developmental roles. A native Gaelic speaker from the Gàidhealtachd, her work is focused on strengthening the use and representation of Gaelic within museums, in collections, displays, and interpretation as well as through staff and volunteer training. Her practice is values-led, recognising the significant role rural museums and their communities have to play in support, celebration and development of Gaelic language and culture.

Rachael Thomas is a museum curator and conservator, based in Inverness, who has worked with collections across the Highlands of Scotland. Most recently this has included time as Assistant Curator at Auchindrain Township in Argyll, and as Project Conservator during Gairloch Museum’s award-winning reinterpretation.

Her areas of interest include the material culture of Scotland’s Gypsy/Travellers, and the interior decorations, fixtures and fittings of Scotland’s vernacular buildings. @rachaelthomasconservation

Image credit: Straw craftsmen Fred Mizen, copyright Museum of English Rural Life (MERL)

Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is a tradition, practice, or living expression of a group or community, inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants. This can include oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, and traditional crafts. Museums and galleries hold collections that relate to ICH practices. Caring for historical objects, archives, oral histories and, and as places to raise awareness and exhibit local ICH.

In 2024 The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage was ratified by the UK Government. The convention was introduced by UNESCO in 2003 as a way “to incite countries to care about and look after the ICH present on their territories”.

During a seminar in April 2025, we explored this topic, concentrating on Intangible Cultural Heritage, the ratification of the Convention by the UK and discovering how museums can help support safeguarding intangible culture.

This session was hosted by Madeleine Ding, Collections Officer for The Museum of English Rural Life and Reading Museum.

Jacob O’Sullivan is Museum Development Manager for Museums Galleries Scotland: the national development body for museums and galleries in Scotland.

MGS is an accredited NGO advisor to UNESCO on Intangible Cultural Heritage, and as such, Jacob has been closely involved in supporting the delivery, development, and safeguarding of ICH in Scotland. Jacob’s background is in rural museums, having previously been a member of the Rural Museums Network while Curator of the Highland Folk Museum.

Rural Relevance: How to identify, care for & share rural collections

Free Training: Thursday 21 March 2024 1-3pm, Online

Do you want to feel more confident about using your rural collection in a greater range of stories and activities, creating a better visitor experience? 

Do you want to develop better awareness of routes available to access information, advice or help about rural collection issues?

If you are a non-specialist working with, or looking after, rural and agricultural collections in any role, the Rural Museums Network (Specialist Subject Network for rural collections) has created a FREE practical knowledge-development training session specifically for you. 

Be inspired and acquire practical experience from our trainers who will draw on a variety of resources related to using, identifying, and caring for rural collections to create better experiences for visitors, and more sustainable organisations. 

Experience the value of rural collection networking with two years’ free membership of the RMN to develop your learning.

How to book: Please complete this form and email to Elizabeth.Bennett@gov.wales

Deadline to book by: 5pm Wednesday 13 March 2024

Platform: Microsoft Teams Supported by funding from Art Fund for Museum Development, Welsh Government

Perthnasedd Gwledig: Sut i adnabod, gofalu am a rhannu casgliadau gwledig

Hyfforddiant am ddim: Dydd Iau 21 Mawrth 2024 1-3pm, Ar-lein

Ydych chi eisiau teimlo’n fwy hyderus am ddefnyddio eich casgliad gwledig mewn ystod ehangach o straeon a gweithgareddau, gan greu profiad gwell i ymwelwyr? 

Ydych chi eisiau datblygu gwell ymwybyddiaeth o’r llwybrau sydd ar gael i gael gwybodaeth, cyngor neu gymorth am faterion ynglŷn â chasgliadau gwledig?

Os ydych chi’n gweithio gyda chasgliadau gwledig ac amaethyddol neu’n gofalu amdanynt, mewn unrhyw rôl gyffredinol, mae’r Rhwydwaith Amgueddfeydd Gwledig (Rhwydwaith Pwnc Arbenigol ar gyfer casgliadau gwledig) wedi creu sesiwn hyfforddiant datblygu gwybodaeth ymarferol AM DDIM yn benodol i chi. 

Cewch eich ysbrydoli a’ch caffael profiad ymarferol gan ein hyfforddwyr a fydd yn defnyddio amrywiaeth o adnoddau sy’n gysylltiedig â defnyddio, adnabod a gofalu am gasgliadau gwledig i greu profiadau gwell i ymwelwyr, a sefydliadau mwy cynaliadwy. 

Profwch werth rhwydweithio casgliadau gwledig gydag aelodaeth RMN am ddim o ddwy flynedd i ddatblygu eich dysgu.

Sut i archebu: Llenwch y ffurflen atodedig a’i anfon at Elizabeth.Bennett@gov.wales

Dyddiad cau i archebu erbyn: 5pm Dydd Mercher 13 Mawrth 2024

Llwyfan: Microsoft Teams

Gyda chefnogaeth ariannol gan Art Fund for Museum Development, Llywodraeth Cymru