David Cox - 'A Gypsy Encampment'
Artists have often sentimentalised gypsies, using them as local colour in idealised rural settings. Here, however, it appears that David Cox has sketched these people from life, and they are the main ...
Discussion of Park Closure at Night
Parks in Birmingham were usually kept closed at night, but in 1954 the Parks Committee did consider leaving Calthorpe Park open. These pages from the Parks Committee minutes consider this proposal, which ...
Drawing of a Middlemore Girl
As an Edgbastonian, John Middlemore was proudly celebrated in the pages of the Edgbastonia magazine:
‘A benevolent Edgbaston gentleman who has solved one of the difficult social problems of modern ...
Edgbastonia Title Page, 1881
‘The contents will be of local interest, or local production, and […] they shall be of a healthy moral tone, and be altogether non-political and unsectarian’. So says the editor of Edgbastonia in May ...
Edgbastonia Title Page, 1900
Edgbastonia magazine greeted the new century with a re-designed title page.
Edgbastonia Title Page, 1902
Edgbastonia incorporated the City's coat of arms 'Forward' into its title page in 1902.
Extract from Edgbastonia, 1902
This is an example of the feature headers that were introduced in Edgbastonia in the early years of the twentieth century. They show a strong Arts and Crafts influence.
Extract from Calthorpe Estate Minutes
In the Minutes of the Calthorpe Estate, we find glimpses of the daily lives of individuals. John Thorneycroft rented Metchley Farm - a considerable parcel of land (267 acres) boundaried by Pritchetts ...
Extract from Elizabeth Cadbury's Family Journal
Between 1915 and 1918 Elizabeth Cadbury wrote a weekly family journal that was circulated amongst family members and close friends. These journals provide an insight into the Cadbury’s family life during ...
Food and Travel Expenses of Lizzie Lamb, age 17
This notebook is an account of Lizzie Lamb, an employee of Cadbury, for one week's record of expenses (food and travel).
'Free Nelson Mandela' Flyer
Birmingham District Labour Party Youth Liaison Committee flyer advertising a meeting on Wednesday 26th November at Handsworth Technical College [1980s]. From the records of the Birmingham Anti-Apartheid ...
Handmade admission ticket to ‘The Consul’s Will’
Arthur Wallis (1874-1933), wrote under the pseudonym P. Bentley and produced scripts, advertising posters, admission tickets and ‘quotes from the critics’.
Highbury Park Sketch Plan
This sketch plan of the grounds and gardens of Highbury Hall was drawn by Hilda Chamberlain in 1894. It accompanied a letter written to her brother, Neville, who was managing the short-lived and ultimately ...
Homes for Birmingham: the Communist Party Plan
At the end of the Second World War public housing had become an increasingly contentious political issue. Both mainstream and fringe parties printed their own solutions for public circulation. Parties ...
Illuminated Address presented to Samuel Walliker
The people shown enjoying the fresh air in this painting are benefiting from the philanthropy of a man who made his home in Birmingham only in the latter part of his life. After a career in London and ...
Illuminated Address presented to Samuel Walliker
This elaborate illuminated address was presented to Samuel Walliker, Postmaster of Birmingham, in 1891. It congratulates him on his good works on behalf of the poor.
Independent Labour Party Minutes
This is a page from the 1914-1921 minute books of the Birmingham Branch of the Independent Labour Party, which was chaired for most of the First World War by the Edgbaston artist Joseph Southall. Under ...
Invitation to the Opening of Calthorpe Park
This invitation was issued to William Sands Cox, founder of Queen's Hospital in 1840 as a clincal school for the Birmingham Royal School of Medicine. The invitation is richly illustrated and contains ...