Everything to Everybody

‘Everything to Everybody’ aims to revive Birmingham’s almost-forgotten Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library and reconnect the collection with the diverse and youthful modern city of Birmingham. The collection was founded by reformer and activist George Dawson, whose pioneering ‘everything to everybody’ ethos helped make 19th-century Birmingham the world’s most progressive modern city. It is the third largest Shakespeare collection in the world, and the only one freely available in a public library.

The project will include an innovative programme of public engagement activities and community-led exhibitions, cataloguing and digitising collections, creating a new exhibition space in the Shakespeare Memorial Room at the Library of Birmingham, restoration and conservation of at risk items from the collection, an education programme and a volunteer programme. A festival and major exhibition will be hosted at Library of Birmingham in 2022.

The project is a collaboration between the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council.