Listening to London

The Museum of London has been recording life story interviews of Londoners since the 1980s. Find out how we are exploring this collection in new ways through Listening to London, starting with Windrush Conversations.

Volunteer researchers Shanice Martin and Jasmine Pierre share voices from the ‘Windrush Conversations’ collection, exploring their relevance to Black Londoners today.

Volunteer researcher Jasmine Pierre explores the ‘Brixton Riots’ collection, reflecting on her own experiences of racial upheaval in London.

Volunteer researchers Kirsten Johnson, Eve Caroline Bolton, Keir McEwan and Georgia Wood select stories of London’s LGBTQ+ nightlife from our Oral History collection, at a time while clubs were closed during lockdown.

Put on your headphones and join us on an imagined audio walk through the City of London’s streets, from the Millennium Bridge to Smithfield Market, accompanied by the voices of Londoners past and present.

During lockdown a group called purpleSTARS, listened to recordings made over the past 80 years from the Museum of London’s oral history collection.

This new free display, featuring sensory elements from sounds to images and even smells, invites visitors to reflect on their own experiences of the capital.

Take a trip back in time with the Docklands Soundscape, echoing back to us the voices and sonic histories of the docks from the lived experiences of our volunteer researchers.

Volunteer researchers share a selection of recordings from our oral history collection, shining a light on their collective memories of London’s docks, port and river.

Volunteer researchers delved into our oral history collection to find out what has London’s Piccadilly Circus meant to people who have worked there, sometimes less visible behind the bright lights.