This oral history recording forms part of our 2022 exhibition, Reading's 'Little Italy': Stories of Migration and Belonging.

Head to our website to plan your visit or explore our online exhibition!

https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/explore/online-exhibitions/reading-little-italy

Reading's 'Little Italy': Remembering your way back home

Reading's 'Little Italy': Working on London Road

Reading's 'Little Italy': Nursery for a young British-Italian

Reading's 'Little Italy': Teresa

Reading's 'Little Italy': Angela

Reading's 'Little Italy': Jacky

Reading's 'Little Italy': Paolo

Reading's 'Little Italy': Toni

Reading's 'Little Italy': Rocco

Reading's 'Little Italy': Ciriaco

Reading's 'Little Italy': Antonietta

Reading's 'Little Italy': Pietro

Reading's 'Little Italy': Giulio and Mena

Reading's 'Little Italy': Italian music at the dances

Reading’s museums hold a vast array of objects that represent the lives and of many different people. Like the diverse population of the town, these artefacts carry with them a diaspora of experiences.

Items at Reading Museum convey the histories of local and global connections alike. Those in the Museum of English Rural Life welcome countryside narratives into an urban setting.

Both collections provide routes into understanding and becoming part of the story of Reading itself. Whether familiar or unfamiliar, active now or outmoded, to many visitors these objects and stories seem as pertinent to today’s conversations as they have ever been.

Rank & File’s participants have kindly shared their personal connections with a handful of these numerous artefacts. This reveals how the town’s museums can provide a safe space for their stories, just as the place itself serves as a welcoming city of sanctuary.

Ganna - Livery Badge

Ganna - WWI Pocket Watch

Yevhenia - Iron Age Coin Hoard

Thabo - Certificate of Registration

Kasia - Box Inlaid with Straw Decoration

Olly - Reading Prison Key Safe

Candy - Suffragette Badge

Caleb - Axe

Thin Ice V2.0 19Aug24

Bells In The Steeple 3

Cobbler Cobbler 3

Hi Lo Chica Lo 3

Lucy Locket 3

Gregorian - Chants - Monks - Mass - Ch

Reading Abbey steady backing track

Reading Abbey fast backing track

Washerwoman Reading Abbey Project

Welcome to Reading Museum's Soundcloud page. We tell the stories of Reading's history and the lives of its people.

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