Professor Lucy Robinson speaking about the project on BBC South East

A campaign to launch a permanent museum to house collections celebrating youth culture is underway, with support from a University of Sussex historian.

Youth Club have already begun collecting materials for their archives, including images from the Zap Club in Brighton taken in the 1990s.

Focusing on the stories of young people, the archives currently explore the sense of identity, friendship and creative innovation forged by movements like the Mods and Rockers. 

But what began as a collection of photos has now turned into a plan to open a museum dedicated to youth culture.

Lucy Robinson, Professor of Collaborative History, has worked closely with the Youth Club organisation along with other members of the Subcultures Network, and has an interest in how we can capture the histories of young people.

She said: “Before the age of mobile phones and selfies, we have to look a bit harder to find these images of young people.

"I’m really interested in how we can store and present them in an exhibition and an archive, and encourage them to be taken seriously.”

The photos collected so far will be shown in an exhibition in September, and, with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Youth Club are working to create an online Museum of Youth Culture by 2023.

Professor Robinson is supporting the organisation’s work and has been writing content to be shared on their website, with an upcoming piece focusing on ‘Pop Girls and Riot Grrrls’.

Find out more about the project, and listen to Lucy speaking about the archiving of young people’s histories on BBC South East, from 23 minutes in: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0007hpm/south-east-today-evening-news-07082019