Birmingham Archives & Collections

Preserving & sharing 800 years of Birmingham's history @libraryofbham. Follow our blog Enquiries: [email protected]

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

Guest blogger, Nikki Thorpe examines how the the People’s Heritage Co-operative and Brum Loves Libraries collaboration to celebrate our local libraries and their community significance culminated in the ‘Bookmarks’ project: https://t.co/VRRWKyoGmo @LibraryofBham @PHCooperative

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#Birmingham is home to many scientists. Francis William Aston was born today in Harborne in 1877. Aston’s invention of the Mass Spectrograph paved the way to modern forensic science: https://t.co/MLKPNIPSqc Ref – Biography Cuttings Vol. 38 @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#MapOnATuesday We’re going back to 1785 this week with Thomas Hanson’s Plan of Birmingham. Interesting details provided by the map include the town had 9,500 houses and 52,250 inhabitants. Ref – MAP/72831 @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

The Faery Calendar drawn and written by Birmingham artist Bernard Sleigh (1872 – 1954). Engraved on wood by Ivy A. Ellis. Do we believe in fairies, children? Ref - LS 6/287915, Local Authors Collection @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

Joshua Scholefield (1775 - 1844) was elected to serve Birmingham in 1832 along with Thomas Attwood as the borough’s first two MPs. Ref - MS 1717, Box 6, Bundle 13 @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#SundayShowcase today is Bangladesh : The Mosaic in Green edited by Mamoon Mansoor. This 1995 Ministry of Information guide sits in our Black & South Asian History Collection: https://t.co/xmItM1pVl5 Ref: AQ 954.92 @LibraryofBham @BAHCBirmingham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#CityOf1000Trades is this trade catalogue for Suckling Limited – silversmiths and electroplaters founded in Birmingham in 1895. Operating from several addresses in the Jewellery Quarter until closing in 1965. Ref – MS 318, Box 21 @LIbraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#PhotoFriday today is St John's School on the corner of Johnstone Street and St Mary Street, Ladywood in 1960. It opened as St John's National School in 1857. The view looks north. Ref - WK/L5/21 @LibraryofBham @Brumpic

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#BirminghamWomen Councillor Joan Tomlinson, Chair of Birmingham City Council Parks Committee. Featured in this Sunday Mercury article 25.4.1964. Just about to take a two month trip to America invited by the US State Department. Ref: Birmingham Biography Vol. 56 @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

Marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, a letter in the Matthew Boulton & Family Papers from Thomas Jefferson, Virginia to William Small here in Birmingham. Small, a member of the Lunar Society, was also a mentor to Jefferson. Ref: MS 3782/12/76/189 @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#PlanOnATuesday today is part of the floor plan for the Ringway Centre, Smallbrook Queensway – we brought you an illustration of the building yesterday. Each block was given a name, chiefly of a local town or city.
Ref – LF 87.3 (661486) @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#Birmingham the Smallbrook Street Ringway Centre was designed by James Roberts and Sydney Greenwood as part of the Inner Ring Road scheme complete with offices and retail space. The brochure is dated 1957. Ref – LF 87.3 (661486) @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

Join #BertzAssociates for a Curator’s talk on the Lisel Haas exhibition in the Level 3 Gallery this Thursday at 2 pm and Tuesday 1 September at 5.30 pm. Check the schedule for further dates this year. Admission free and donations welcome @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#SundayShowcase today is Birmingham City : 150 Years of a Remarkable Football Club by Keith Dixon. A chronicle of the club’s rich history including a wide range of memorabilia. Ref – LF 25.14 @LibraryofBham @BCFC

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#CityOf1000Trades BoxFoldia began operations at Ten Acres Works, 1111- 1117 Pershore Road, Birmingham c.1926. Apparently formed by Charles Henry Foyle, member of the Foyles Bookshop family who invented the folding carton. Ref: Trade Catalogue Collection-Box Foldia @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#PhotoFriday is this Birmingham Corporation Water Department photo of 22 & 23, Blews Street, Birmingham taken in the Edwardian era. Blews Street still survives off Newtown Middleway. Ref – WK/B11/1680 @LibraryofBham @Brumpic

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#BirminghamWomen In December 1960, Della Phillips became president of the Birmingham branch of NALGO - the youngest local president at 33 and the first female to take up the role. Ref - Birmingham Post 28 December 1960 @LibraryofBham @unisontheunion

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

Sunday is International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade: https://t.co/qWPpvJQKbI Amanda Smith, an American abolitionist visited Birmingham, 1879 to advocate for Black representation. Read more in M. H. Cadbury’s Life of Amanda Smith. Ref: L52.41 /264253 @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

#MapOnATuesday today is this rating map of the area around Legge Lane, part of Richard Clarke’s revaluation of the borough of Birmingham for purposes of assessment, 1870-71. Ref - Sheet 289. LF 63.82/270023 @LibraryofBham

[Birmingham Archives & Collections @TheIronRoom]

This week’s blog looks at the Luke Players Drama Group formed in 1937 from a youth group based at St Luke's Church, Bristol Road. Our archive includes a collection for the group (MS 5206) Read our blog here: https://t.co/h882M27ivg @LibraryofBham @LukePlayers1