The Friends of the Landscape Library and Archive at Reading (FOLAR) is seeking the services of researcher to support the first phase of a new oral history project. FOLAR seeks ‘to record the rich heritage of the landscape professions’ elders’. Underpinning the project will be a review of landscape-related oral history carried out to date in the UK – specifically, the extent, scope, quality and quantity of the work. The research should concentrate on interviews with landscape professionals, but FOLAR will also welcome any information on oral history work with clients, users, funders, or specific topics or sites that is uncovered in the course of the project. The successful applicant will have access to the Landscape Institute’s Library and Archive at Reading University’s Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), as well as the LI’s corporate records and papers. Other organisations and institutions will also need to be investigated to ensure a comprehensive level of coverage.

About FOLAR

Helen Neve, FOLAR Oral History Project lead, said:’For those unfamiliar with FOLAR, we are dedicated to championing and encouraging the use of the archive and library at Reading University, and to promoting the landscape profession to the widest contemporary audience.’We have secured funding from the Landscape Institute to begin the project by appointing a researcher to undertake a review of landscape-related oral history work carried out to date in the UK. Applications from suitably qualified researchers would be very welcome.’Read the full brief and details of how to apply. (PDF, 235 KB.)