Using the 18th century as a starting point, the project looked at the Lunar Society’s positive contribution to global issues like the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, scientific and medical advances and the advancement of religious and political liberty. However, we also took a more critical look at some of the Society’s more ambiguous activities, not least how some of its members benefited from their links to international trade and slavery and the growth of the British Empire.

However, the project went beyond these early, often negative, colonial relationships and shows how a more positive history has been created by the contribution of people from all over the Commonwealth to the development of Birmingham as a modern multicultural city.

A key objective was to involve and engage more people from a wider range of backgrounds (including those not usually interested in ‘heritage’) by working in partnership with a number of community-based organisations. The project delivered a wide range of events including guided tours, archive workshops at the Library of Birmingham, talks on Commonwealth and Lunar Society related topics, family events at Soho House, and the production of a short film.