Shakespeare Memorial Library

From 2020 to 2023, the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council collaborated on a £1.7 million plan to revive the city’s almost-forgotten Shakespeare Memorial Library. Housed in the iconic Library of Birmingham, it was the first great Shakespeare library in the world and one, which, from the very beginning, has belonged to the people of the city. 

The “Everything to Everybody” project united this Shakespeare collection with the George Dawson Collection, also held at LoB. This neglected treasure-trove documents the career of the radical preacher, lecturer and activist, who founded the Shakespeare Library as part of a pioneering ‘Civic Gospel’ in 19th century Birmingham. 

The National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded the Everything to Everybody project funding to open access to the collections and deliver an exciting programme of engaging events for people and communities across the city.  

As part of a new way of responding to the Shakespeare Library, sound artist Justin Wiggan worked with the collection to create a set of recordings that have been used in a unique solar powered breathing post located in the Secret Garden on Floor 7 of the Library of Birmingham. Listening to the post can help the listener to pause and slow down their breathing and it provides the listener with an unusual and unexpected connection to the items in the Shakespeare collection. Sounds recorded from the collection have also been included in the newly installed Shakespeare Trail, which appears throughout the Library’s building.