Historical ACRE documents sent to museum

Historical documents from deep within the ACRE archives have been transferred to the University of Reading’s Museum of English Rural Life.

The process, which took place throughout August and September, was led by volunteers from the Friends of the ACRE Network who sifted through dozens of boxes to identify items of historical importance.

These materials, which included magazines, reports and meeting minutes dating back more than 50 years, were then carefully labelled, packaged and taken to the university’s museum for future preservation.

ACRE’s Vice Chair, Professor Gavin Parker, who holds a number of academic roles at the University of Reading, oversaw the transfer process.

Plans to move the items from storage to a professional archive were first drawn up in 2020, when it was found that some files relating to the formation of ACRE were missing.

A subsequent report identified that what materials ACRE did have in its lock-up were likely to be of interest to researchers, historians and the wider public, and should therefore be preserved to help chronicle the history of rural England.

With the documents now secure in the Museum of English Rural Life, the next step will be the formal cataloguing of the documents, which should take place next year.

More information on the Friends of the ACRE Network can be found at www.100ruralyears.uk/alumni.