Friends of the Charles Parker Archive

This group was set up in 1981 at the same time as the Charles Parker Trust, and since then has been supporting the Trustees in two main ways. Firstly and most importantly it is a source of volunteers – to support the cataloguing and copying process, and to help in the organisation of events, some highlighted below. Secondly it raises money in a small way which can be used as matched funding against grants from funding bodies. This is particularly true in relation to the Heritage Lottery grant for the recently-completed digitisation project, where the finance was completed with a cheque for £2,000 from the Friends.

Some events that volunteers have made possible

When the archive moved to Birmingham Public Libraries in 1986 the Trustees were able, with the help of the Friends, to feature a grand launch in the city centre, as well as support BPL staff in mounting an exhibition from 11am-6pm daily for a month. A large number of singers and musicians took part in a Street Festival in Chamberlain Square on Saturday 14 June, with a folk concert in the Library Theatre that evening, and another one a week later.

The exhibition The Living Word, featuring Charles Parker’s work and ideas 1954-1980, was a major feature of the Readers and Writers Festival in November 1988. For two weeks our volunteer Friends staffed the Midlands Arts Centre gallery from 12 noon till 8pm. On Sunday 20 November there was a full day event, with contributions from the National Sound Archive, Banner Theatre, Living Archive and S Wales Miners Library, the Sandwell Popular Archive and Black Country Oral History Cookbook as well as many singers and musicians.

Friends gave huge support behind the scenes in the making of the Travelling Exhibition CD-ROM, launched in 1995. They also organised, as part of the Readers and Writers Festival, an evening of song, photographs and discussion – The Travelling People, Then and Now – on 20 May that year.

Ten years later they are still involved. The digitisation project A Future for Ordinary Folk, was launched in June 2004. Singers, musicians and other Friends contributed to make this a memorable occasion. They will continue to support the work of the Trustees in making the contents of the Archive accessible.

Advantages of membership

Membership of the Friends entitles you to an Annual Report or periodical newsletter, to concessionary prices for publications in print or sound and to be actively involved in the future of the Archive. Annual Reports are published each year, and back copies are available to Friends on request. Download a subscription form.

An Annual General Meeting is held each year, and in 2004 this took the form of a celebration to launch the digitisation project A Future for Ordinary Folk.

If you are interested in the Friends of the Charles Parker Archive please contact

Ian Parr, Secretary of the Charles Parker Archive Trust
c/o Birmingham City Archives,
Central Library,
Chamberlain Square,
Birmingham B3 3HQ
Tel +44 (0)121 303 4217