John Peel’s Record Collection to Become Online Museum

Legendary English DJ John Peel‘s record collection is to be made into an interactive online museum.

The equally legendary record collection, which contains over 25,000 LPs, 40,000 singles and many thousands of CDs, will become part of The Space, a new experimental digital service co-organized by the Arts Council and the BBC.

Tom Barker, Director, John Peel Centre for Creative Arts, said: “It is the first step in creating an interactive online museum with access to the entire collection, one of the most important archives in modern music history.”

Frank Prendergast of Eye Film And Television added: “The idea is to digitally recreate John’s home studio and record collection, which users will be able to interact with and contribute to, while viewing Peel’s personal notes, archive performances and new filmed interviews with musicians.”

Sheila Ravenscroft, the late John Peel’s wife also commented, stating: “We’re very happy that we’ve finally found a way to make John’s amazing collection available to his fans, as he would have wanted. This project is only the beginning of something very exciting.”

Arts Council England is committing up to three and a half million pounds (or five and a half million dollars), while the BBC is contributing to the partnership by developing the technological solutions and providing ongoing support.

[NME]