The Jewellery Quarter Research Trust is creating a database of graves in Grade II listed Warstone Lane and Grade II* listed Key Hill cemeteries.
The trust, which runs a listings website for the graveyards, has had interest from relatives of the deceased and enquiries from around the world.
Former mayor Joseph Chamberlain is among the dignitaries buried there.
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Doug Wilks, chairman of the trust, said it will take up to 15 years to document the graves, but is hoping the database can help promote the history of the area.
"It's absolutely fascinating, you see so many people who were part of history," he said.
"Hopefully in the next few years it will be very useful to researchers."
The graveyards were once on the Historic England register of buildings deemed to be at risk but have since been removed thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Not only do they contain the remains of some of the city's industrial leaders but they are also home to some interesting architecture such as the Warstone Lane Cemetery catacombs where printer and publisher John Baskerville lies.
A project to catalogue some of Birmingham's most notable and historic graves could take up to 15 years.