The Trust
The Charles Parker Archive Trust preserves and disseminates the legacy of Charles Parker (1919-1980), renowned BBC producer, lecturer, musician, actor, writer, and activist. As well as making the contents of his archive more accessible, the Trust organises an annual Charles Parker Radio Day, and the Charles Parker Prize for the best student radio feature.
Charles Parker Archive
The Charles Parker Archive is a nationally significant resource for the study of the social, cultural, and political history of Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. It contains reel-to-reel tapes, working papers, and personal papers created by Charles Parker during his career as a BBC producer, lecturer, musician, actor, writer, and activist including approximately 5000 hours of sound recordings, transcriptions, working notes, production books, scripts, and papers related to nearly 200 programmes and projects, correspondence and newspaper cuttings. Until 2019 the Trust organised Annual General Meetings at the Library of Birmingham. All meetings are now held online, and copies of Annual Reports are available online.
The Trust organised a public launch of the Archive in 1986 and commissioned two innovative exhibitions based on its contents, in material and digital form. More details in the Early History of the Trust by Sara and Matthew Parker.
The Archive is housed in the Library of Birmingham’s Archives, Heritage and Photography section, but an online catalogue of its contents can be browsed from any computer, and there is also a search facility. There are also web pages describing the Charles Parker Archive at the Library of Birmingham and as part of its Connecting Histories collection.
The Trustees
The Trust is governed by a team of dedicated trustees with a range of experience and links to the work of Charles Parker.
Partners and Funding
As we are a charitable trust we rely on funding to continue our work. Thanks to the following partners we’re able to continue our work with the Charles Parker Prize and host our annual Charles Parker Day.
