In collaboration with Manchester's People's History Museum and the Labour History Archive, the Library was awarded a grant from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation in 2012 to research, find and unlock the hidden collections of both institutions and make links between them.
The project increased public access to the collections through a blog, twitter feed, talks and educational activities.
The project has now come to an end, but it did a fantastic job of finding and unlocking the hidden collections of the People’s History Museum and Working Class Movement Library and making links between them.
Hackathon 2014, Islington Mill
The project blog; the twitter feed; a 24 hour hackathon; themed Open Days; object handling at events; joint tours; articles; and talks are just some of the ways Unlocking Ideas has taken collections beyond the confines of the store and brought them to new audiences. There was also a finale exhibition at the Library displaying the outcomes of the project.
The project blog and twitter account remain up and running so people can continue to find out about the project.
