A library that closed nearly two decades ago re-opened last week on a new site as part of a living history museum being developed in England’s Black Country in the West Midlands.
The library was abandoned until 2018, when it was dismantled and moved to the museum site; it has now been re-assembled, brick-by-brick, and is ready for its opening as the largest building in a growing ensemble of period buildings. Its shelves are now stocked with more than 6,500 donated and collected books.
The Black Country Living History museum is focused on life in the area from the 1940s to the 1960s, a much newer frame than most living history museums, and in fact quite a bit later than the library’s origins: It was donated to the area by the Earl of Dudley in 1894. The library is looking for contributions of the colorful paperbacks that were becoming popular in the period.
The overall development of the museum has been supported by a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of more than £15m.
