RNCM Receives Prestigious Funding for the Connecting Manchester’s Music Archives Initiative

The RNCM is awarded an Archives Revealed Cataloguing Grant to help explore parts of the Henry Watson Music Library’s Special Collection in Manchester.

Connecting Manchester’s Music Archives is a partnership between the RNCM, Manchester Digital Music Archive (MDMArchive), Hallé Concerts Society, and the Henry Watson Music Library. Rooted in the deeds and dedication of Manchester’s historic musical champions and entrepreneurs, including Sir Charles Hallé and Hilda Collens, the initiative is a digital hub where Greater Manchester’s music archives can be connected and highlighted, making it easier for anyone to explore Manchester’s music stories.

As administrator of the partnership, the RNCM is thrilled to receive a prestigious Archives Revealed Cataloguing Grant to help index parts of the Henry Watson Music Library’s Special Collection. The project will reveal underexplored collections of more than two centuries of music programmes, minute books from some of the city’s oldest musical societies, and unique manuscripts from several of its musical pioneers.

Funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust, the Wolfson Foundation and The National Archives, Archives Revealed is the only grant programme in the UK dedicated to the cataloguing and unlocking of archival collections. The grant will enable the RNCM to recruit a dedicated team who will, for the first time, work to uncover, organise, catalogue, and share core elements of the underexplored stories of some of Manchester’s musical societies, concert series, and notable individuals.

We are very excited by the opportunities that this Archives Reveal grant affords. The project will lay the cornerstone for significant research, revealing Manchester’s vibrant cultural, musical and social networks of national and international significance.
– Professor Wiebke Thormählen, RNCM Director of Research

3 March 2026