Public collections
Where copyright permits, everyone can play recordings in the following collections.
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A.R. Gregory Kenyan bird recordings
Recordings from the most comprehensive personal archive of wildlife sounds from East Africa
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Amphibians
A comprehensive collection of vocalisations from around the world
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Architecture
Oral history interviews with British architects and those in associated professions
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Arnold Adriaan Bake South Asian Music Collection
Religious and folk music, ritual and dance from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka
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Art
Life story oral history interviews with people involved in British art
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Arthur Morris Jones Africa Collection
Recordings from one of the pioneers of African music studies
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Authors
Life story interviews with authors reflecting on their experiences of living and writing in the 20th and 21st centuries.
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Bach
All the pre-1957 recordings of the Orchestral Suites, Brandenburg concertos and keyboard concertos
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Banking and finance
Life story interviews that explore changes in Britain’s banking and finance industries in the second half of the 20th century
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BBC Voices
Conversations about language recorded by BBC Nations and Regions
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Beethoven
Compare and contrast performances of Beethoven's string quartets, symphonies and concertos
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Berliner Lautarchiv British and Commonwealth recordings
Recordings of WW1 British prisoners of war held in Germany
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Between Two Worlds: Poetry and Translation
A wide range of poets who are bilingual or have English as a second language
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Bob and Jacqueline Patten English Folk Music Collection
Field recordings of traditional songs, music and customs made between 1969 to 2001
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Bob Davenport English Folk Music Collection
Traditional music recorded in Newcastle and an interview with Bob Davenport
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Brahms
Recordings of the symphonies, concertos and overtures made before 1957
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Branding & design
Life story oral history interviews with people involved in British branding, fashion and design industries
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Brian Moser and Donald Tayler Colombia Collection
The music of indigenous Indian peoples, recorded between 1960-1
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British wildlife recordings
A selection of sound recordings of wildlife from around Britain
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Carol Tingey Nepal Collection
Folk and ritual music of Nepal
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Chamber music
Performers include the Philharmonic String Quartet (pictured), the London Trio and the Dutch String Quartet
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Charity and social welfare
Memories and experiences of key figures in welfare and charitable work
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Chopin
Performances of all the major works
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Colin Huehns Asia Collection
Music from Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan
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Crafts
Oral histories that record in-depth life stories of Britain's craftspeople, exploring both their personal and their working lives
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Decca West African recordings
Recordings from the yellow label series, issued on shellac disc between circa 1948-1958
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Derek Collier Collection
Recordings of the British violinist at the BBC
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Desmond and Shelagh Herring English Folk Music Collection
Field recordings of traditional songs, dances and customs from Suffolk
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Dinka songs from South Sudan
Recordings of Dinka songs and language made between 2009 and 2012 in South Sudan
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Disability Voices
Interviews that chart the experiences of disabled people
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Early record catalogues
Record catalogues from 1898 to 1926 of discs produced for the British market
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Early spoken word recordings
English-language recordings drawn from commercial cylinders and 78 rpm discs
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Early wildlife recordings
Pioneering wildlife sound recordings from the first half of the 20th century
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Endangered Micronesian recordings
Music from the islands of Micronesia
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Ethnographic wax cylinders
Music, songs and speech from around the world, captured between 1898 and 1915
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Evolving English VoiceBank
A selection of English accents captured at the British Library
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Evolving English WordBank
Words and phrases contributed by visitors to the British Library’s Evolving English exhibition in 2010/11
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Fashion
Life story interviews with people whose lives have been spent in the fashion industry
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Food
Interviews that document the history of Britain through attitudes to food and food production
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George Ewart Evans collection
Interviews and songs recorded by oral history pioneer George Ewart Evans between 1956 and 1977
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Giles Swayne Senegal Collection
Jola music recorded in January and February 1982 in The Gambia and Senegal
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Haydn
Pre-1957 recordings of the symphonies
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Hugh Davies experimental music
Works by the British composer of experimental music
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ICA talks
Talks and discussions held at the ICA during the period 1982-1993, featuring leading writers, artists and filmmakers
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Industry: water, steel and energy
Oral history interviews documenting the lives and careers of those who worked in the UK electricity, water, steel, oil and gas industries
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James Kippen North India Collection
Tablā performances and interviews with tablā players and teachers
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Jewish survivors of the Holocaust
Powerful personal accounts of the Holocaust from Jewish survivors living in Britain
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John Brearley Botswana Collection
Includes recordings from a range of Bushmen groups
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John Low East Africa Collection
Includes field recordings made in Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania
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Keith Summers English Folk Music Collection
Suffolk performers recorded between 1971 and 1981
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Kenneth Gourlay Uganda Collection
Recordings from Nigeria and northeast Uganda
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Kevin Volans Southern Africa Music Collection
Field recordings made in Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
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Klaus Wachsmann Uganda Collection
Indigenous music recorded by the pioneering scholar
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Law
Life story interviews with prominent barristers, judges and lawyers that document the history of the legal profession in Britain
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Listen to nature
Birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and insects from all over the world
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Listening Project
One-to-one conversations on a topic of the speakers' choice recorded by BBC Nations and Regions
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Mátyás Seiber
Chamber, choral and film music by the Hungarian-born composer
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Middle Eastern music on shellac disc
Music recorded from the 1930s to 1960s, largely representing the urban areas of Iraq
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Millennium Memory Bank
One of the largest single oral history collections in Europe, recorded by BBC local radio stations during 1998 and 1999
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Mozart
Symphonies and concertos recorded before 1957
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Music from India
Folk, devotional and ritual music of rural India
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Nick and Mally Dow English Folk Music Collection
Traditional singers from Dorset and Lancashire, with a focus on travelling people
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Observing the 1980s
Insights into the lives and opinions of British people from all social classes and regions
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Odeon record label recordings from the Indian subcontinent
Odeon record lable recordings from the Indian subcontinent
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One Language, Many Voices
Self-defined linguistic identities of Brtiish Library visitors
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Opie collection of children's games and songs
Singing games, skipping and clapping songs, and discussions of informal play
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Oral historians
Life story interviews with oral historians and others who have practiced oral history
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Oral history curator's choice
Edited extracts from National Life Stories projects archived at the British Library
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Oral history of British science
Scientists reflect on their background and involvement in UK science
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Oral history of Glyndebourne opera
Interviews with people connected to Glyndebourne opera
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Percy Grainger ethnographic wax cylinders
Recordings made by Percy Grainger in England, 1906–1908.
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Peter Cooke Uganda Collection
Recordings of a broad range of culture groups, genres and instrument types
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Peter Kennedy Collection
Peter Kennedy’s collection of songs and dances demostrating folklore tradition in Britain and Ireland
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Photography
Intimate encounters with the life and work of British photographers
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Pioneering women
Oral histories documenting the lives of pioneering women in Britain, each of whom pursued a successful career in their respective fields long before it was the norm for women to do so
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Playback and recording equipment
Over 400 images of devices, from phonographs to DAT players
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Politics
Life story interviews with current and former Members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords
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Press and media
An Oral History of the British Press
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Raymond Firth Tikopia Collection
Music recordings made from 1952-1973
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Reg Hall English, Irish and Scottish Folk Music and Customs Collection
Instrumental music and customs from around the UK
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Roy Palmer English Folk Music Collection
Field recordings of soldiers’ songs and folk drama recorded in Birmingham, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire
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Skiffle recordings
More than 170 numbers, including Lonnie Donegan’s famous hits
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Sound effects
From Victorian street scenes to the sounds of World War Two
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Soundscapes
This selection draws together industrial sounds, urban and natural soundscapes, and wildlife sounds from around the globe
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Sport
Oral history interviews documenting the lives and careers of British sportsmen and women throughout the 20th century
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Steve Gardham English Folk Music Collection
Field recordings of music in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire, England
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Survey of English Dialects
Extracts taken from recordings made between 1951 and 1974
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Syliphone record label recordings from Guinea
Recordings from the Syliphone record label, created in 1958 in the Republic of Guinea
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Terry Yarnell English and Irish Folk Music Collection
Field recordings made in England and Ireland, circa 1970-1985
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The Golha radio programmes: Flowers of Persian song and music
Programmes broadcast on Iranian National Radio between 1956 and 1979
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Theatre
An oral history of theatre design
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Theatre Archive Project
A reinvestigation into British theatre history 1945-1968
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Touch Radio
All the broadcasts from the pioneering station
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Trevor Wiggins Ghana Music Collection
Dagaare recreational songs and dances from Nandom in northwestern Ghana
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Vanishing voices from Russia and Eastern Europe
Folk, traditional and ritual songs and stories from Udmurtia and other areas of Russia
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Violeta Ruano Portraits of Saharawi Music
Recordings showcasing the rich cultural heritage of the Saharawi community living in south-west Algeria
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Water
Field recordings of various bodies of water from around the world
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Weather
Field recordings of meteorological phenomena
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Young India record label collection
Music from the 'Young India' record label 1935-1955