John Peel’s record collection, consisting of around 25,000 vinyl LPs, is to be put online in virtual form for an Arts Council project entitled The Space, reports BBC News. Visitors to the site will be able to browse through some of his record collection. The Space’s website is currently blank, but the project, which is Arts Council funded, is set to commence in May.
Though his collection also contains around 40,000 vinyl singles and CDs, the project’s focus is to get the vinyl albums online in the first instance, which will be accompanied by personal notes, video interviews with his family and musicians, and more extra material. The aim is to put 100 albums online per week, giving access to a total of 2500 once this part of the project has reached completion in October. Listening may be limited depending on copyright issues but there will also be access to audio of the Peel session archive.
"What we’re hoping to do is create an online interactive museum which which answers the question ‘what is in John Peel’s record collection?’ but also provides the audience with a visualisation of it," said Tom Barker, director of the John Peel Centre. "We hope that giving them access to a particular band or their first album or listening to his show will inspire people to tell us their stories."
Peel’s widow Sheila Ravenscroft has also backed the project, saying that "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."
