The Museum of English Rural Life, also called MERL, is a museum that is part of the University of Reading. The museum is dedicated to agriculture and the countryside. The museum is located on Redlands Road, at the back of the institute's London Road Campus, near the center of Reading. The location occupied by the museum was formerly known as East Thorpe House and later St. Andrews Hall. The museum, founded in 1951 and opened to the public in 1955, began its collection with objects from the collections of HJ Massingham and Lavinia Smith. The Museum houses collections considered to be of national importance that encompass objects, archives, photographs, films and books. Here is also the seat of the archive of the special collections of the University of Reading, where collections of rare books, manuscripts, typescripts and other objects of importance are kept. It is a total of over 25,000 objects, almost all on display, and which provide a rich overview of rural England from 1750 to the present day. He curates a collection of livestock portraits, depictions of rural life, hand farm tools, plows, farm machinery, sewing machines and other equipment. The museum has a specialized library and houses other collections including the Tools & Trades History Society library.