our collections

6 min read 2023-01-09 15:30:00

New Year, new additions

2022 was a bumper year for new additions to our printed resource collections – the Birmingham & Local Studies Collections and the Black &

4 min read 2022-12-24 15:30:00

Costume Designs for Dick Whittington by Martin Byam, c 1880. [LS – SC/157] Why do pantomimes endure? As the glowing embers of the year finally

4 min read 2022-12-20 15:30:00

This autumn the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) has been celebrating its 60th anniversary with a programme of theatre, exhibitions, live events and

3 min read 2022-12-16 15:30:00

Photograph of the cover of an Identification Card [MS 2524/1/B/2/2] My first encounter with eGate was on a recent trip from Heathrow. Installed to

1 min read 2022-12-05 15:30:00

It’s 150 years since Ralph Vaughan Williams was born, on 12 October 1872. He wasn’t from Birmingham, but from Down Ampney, Gloucestershire. He

3 min read 2022-11-28 15:30:00

The recent Birmingham Commonwealth Games were an undoubted highlight of 2022, drawing huge numbers of visitors from across the world. The library

3 min read 2022-11-21 15:30:00

Theatre in Birmingham has a rich history, with permanent theatre venues being founded from the 1740s onwards. Early theatre performances in

3 min read 2022-11-07 15:30:00

At this time of year, we are encouraged to step back from our busy lives and take a moment to remember those who have gone before, those who gave

3 min read 2022-10-31 15:30:00

Regular readers of the blog may have been aware of the project From City of Empire to City of Diversity: A Visual Journey in partnership with Sampad.

3 min read 2022-10-24 14:30:00

Parish records in the stores Back in 2018 I wrote a blog post recounting my first experiences with cataloguing three ecclesiastical parish

4 min read 2022-10-17 14:30:00

For this year’s Black History Month blog, I have decided to look at James Robertson’s map of Jamaica which I first encountered in the early days

2 min read 2022-10-10 14:30:00

The collection of material we hold from Metro-Cammell includes approximately 100 photographic albums, around 100,000 microfiche aperture card

3 min read 2022-09-20 23:00:00

This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Birmingham Pride – this year taking place between 24 – 25th September. We thought it an

3 min read 2022-09-05 14:30:00

During the past few weeks I have been processing various digital collections and ingesting them into our Preservica digital preservation system. Some

3 min read 2022-08-29 14:30:00

A photograph of the Grand Hotel in Birmingham, c.1895, Warwickshire Photographic Survey [Ref. WK B11/5625] Overlooking St. Philip’s Church, the