John Peel‘s famously expansive record collection will be made into an interactive online museum as part of a new experimental digital service organised by the Arts Council and the BBC called ‘The Space’.
“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,” Tom Barker, Director, John Peel Centre for Creative Arts, has said.
“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,” Frank Prendergast of Eye Film And Television added has added.
John Peel’s record collection, amassed over decades of compulsive collecting and dedication to new bands, is estimated to have reached 25,000 LPs and 40,000 singles by the time of his sad death in 2004.
Sheila Ravenscroft, John Peel’s wife and Patron of the John Peel Centre for Creative Arts comments on the plans: “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.”