A home for our stories
The Library of Birmingham opens in Centenary Square — Europe's largest public library and home to the city's archives. It is here, with Birmingham Library & Archives as our partner, that the City of Many Voices collection will find its long-term home.
Centenary Square
The Library of Birmingham — future home of this archive
On 3 September 2013 the Library of Birmingham opened in Centenary Square, its gold and silver filigree façade inspired by the city's jewellery and metalworking heritage. One of the largest public libraries in Europe, it drew millions of visitors in its first year and gave Birmingham a new front room — opened, fittingly, by a young campaigner for every child's right to learn.
The Golden Boys
Boulton, Watt & Murdoch — keeping watch over Centenary Square
Inside, alongside the books, live the city's memories: Birmingham's archives and collections, from medieval charters to photographs of the streets your grandparents walked. But official archives, however great, have gaps — and the everyday lives of working-class and migrant Birmingham are among the largest. Family albums, letters, union newsletters, shop signs, and spoken memories rarely made it into the official record.
That is precisely the gap City of Many Voices exists to fill. Working in partnership with Birmingham Library & Archives, the oral histories and digitised items gathered by this project will be preserved for the long term — community memory taking its rightful place beside the official record, in the building made to hold the city's story.