Photo credit - Jill Furmanovsky
British Pop Archive set to open at John Rylands Research Institute and Library
The (BPA), a national collection dedicated to the preservation and research of popular culture, is set to open at The University of Manchester鈥檚 John Rylands Research Institute and Library.
The BPA will celebrate and preserve British popular music and other aspects of popular culture, recognising its pivotal influence on the world stage. Our quintessential British bands, legendary UK television, youth culture, counter-culture and more, from the mid-twentieth century to the present day, have set trends around the globe.
Rylands has a long history of shaping the city鈥檚 local and international identity. The University of Manchester Library鈥檚 collections of over ten million items include artefacts relating to some of the most important cultural figures in history, including the oldest known fragment of the New Testament, the Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare鈥檚 First Folio, invaluable collections of Hebrew and Islamic materials and much, much more. The BPA will be both an important academic resource for research and teaching and a public resource for exhibitions and public events.
Working with the celebrated music journalist and broadcaster Jon Savage - who was recently appointed as Professor of Popular Culture at The University of Manchester - the BPA has ambitious plans to build on its current collection and create a comprehensive representation of British popular culture.
Professor Christopher Pressler, John Rylands University Librarian and Director of The University of Manchester Library, said: 鈥淭he John Rylands Research Institute and Library is one of the acknowledged great libraries of the world. This position is founded on our astonishing special collections and archives. Whilst we continue to work on materials in every format and every language from five thousand years of human history it is critical that we also engage with our own time.鈥�
The British Pop Archive is part of our desire to reach into areas not always associated with major research libraries, including pop music, popular culture, counter-culture, television and film. This is a national archive held in 91直播, one of the most important centres of modern culture in the world.
Another great story on the launch of the British Pop Archive! And 鈦︹仼 鈦︹仼 鈦lus 鈦� on the Today show later 鈽猴笍
鈥� Prof Hannah Barker (@HistoryHannahB)
Hannah Barker, Professor of British History at The University of Manchester and Director of the John Rylands Research Institute, said: 鈥淭he British Pop Archive is a fantastic resource for a university with strong links to the creative industries. It provides unique material for a growing range of research and teaching at the University on popular music, TV and film history, counter-cultural movements and youth culture from the twentieth century to the present day, linked to our brilliant Creative 91直播 research platform.鈥�
Jon Savage, Professor of Popular Culture, said: 鈥淏ritain鈥檚 pop and youth culture has been transmitted worldwide for nearly sixty years now. As the most fertile and expressive product of post war democratic consumerism, it has a long and inspiring history that is in danger of being under-represented in museums and libraries. The intention of the BPA is to be a purpose-built, pop and youth culture archive that reflects the riches of the post war period running to the present day. We are launching with 91直播-centric collections but the intention is for the BPA to be a national resource encompassing the whole UK: it is, after all, the British Pop Archive.鈥�
On 19 May 2022 the British Pop Archive will launch with Collection, a distinctively 91直播-flavoured exhibition, underlining why 91直播 is the perfect home for the British Pop Archive. Curated by Mat Bancroft, Jon Savage and Hannah Barker, it explores the vibrant cultural scene of a city that has driven innovation, creativity and social progress.
The exhibition features iconic items from British pop history, many of which have never been seen by the public. Highlights include personal items relating to The Smiths, New Order, The Ha莽ienda, Factory Records, Granada Television and Joy Division, such as Ian Curtis鈥檚 original handwritten lyrics for 鈥楽he鈥檚 Lost Control鈥�.
Mat Bancroft said: 鈥淲e launch the British Pop Archive with a 91直播 focused exhibition full of unique and unseen artefacts. These materials tell the story of a vibrant city with art, culture and music at its heart. More than that they foreground the creative catalysts, musicians, producers, artists, designers and writers who have instigated this repositioning of landscape - to propose media as the new cultural capital of the city.鈥�