The Public Libraries Act 1850, gave local boroughs the power to establish free public libraries but the creation of a municipal library in Birmingham was rejected in a referendum. Following this, and in reaction to the the dwindling membership of various local educational institutions, Arthur Ryland, a Birmingham lawyer and Unitarian social reformer, began plans to form a new organisation for ‘the Diffusion and Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art amongst all Classes of Persons resident in Birmingham and the Midland Counties…’. Proposed activities and facilities included lectures in science, literature and the arts, and a laboratory for the study of chemistry. The plan drew widespread support, including that of Charles Dickens, who performed the first public readings of A Christmas Carol to raise funds. In 1854 an Act of Parliament was passed and the following year the Institute’s foundation stone was laid by Prince Albert on a plot next to the Town Hall in Paradise Street. In 1859 the progress of the Institute fell into financial difficulty, although, even with its home only half completed, the first public museum was opened in the BMI in January 1860. The institute’s future was saved by the Town Council, which, having finally approved the creation of a municipal library in Birmingham after a second vote, bought a portion of the Institutes’ half-finished site for that purpose. The municipal public library opened in 1866, but burned down during the building of an extension in 1879. In 1876, the subject of 'phonography' (or Pitman shorthand) was introduced to the BMI. During the first session, Marie Bethell Beauclerc, the first female shorthand reporter in England, taught 90 students. By 1891, there were over 300 students, predominately male, attending her phonography classes. A School of Metallurgy was set up in the BMI by G. H. Kenrick in 1875. This was spun-out from the BMI in 1895 as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School, now Aston University. By 1887 there were 4,600 students enrolled at the Institute studying all branches of science, literature, and music. In 1955, Birmingham’s original private lending library (its origins dating back to 1779) located on Margaret Street became part of the BMI. In 1966 the Institute moved to Margaret Street when its old Paradise Street building was demolished as part of the redevelopment of the city centre. It remains there today and continues to offer arts and science lectures, exhibitions and concerts. There is limited free access to the public, with further facilities available on a subscription basis.