Plan for a Midlands Arts Centre for Young People
This plan formed part of a proposal prepared by John English concerning the establishment in Cannon Hill Park of a Midland Arts Centre, which he hoped would be administered by an independent trust. The ...
Playing Tennis at Birmingham Botanical Gardens
'The lovers of lawn-tennis will perhaps be surprised to learn that Major Gem was the first to bring that game before the public, but it is an unquestionable fact'.
An obituary for Major ‘Harry’ Gem ...
Political Demonstrations in the Parks
During the 1920s and 1930s, the Parks Committee minutes contain detailed information about the type of organisations applying to use Birmingham’s parks for meetings and demonstrations. The issue of whether ...
Postcard of Bristol Road, Edgbaston
This postcard shows the overhead tram cables along Bristol Road. This modern form of transport co-existed with horsedrawn vehicles, one of which appears in the background.
Postcard of Calthorpe Park
This birthday greetings postcard of Calthorpe Park was sent from D.S. to L. Payne of Solihull. Calthorpe Park was one of Birmingham’s first public parks, laid out in 1856.
Postcard of Edgbaston Reservoir
In 1903 postcards were still a relatively new phenomenon. Only the address could be written on the back, and any message had to be fitted onto the front alongside the picture. This postcard carries a ...
Postcard of Motor Bus, Hagley Road
This postcard gives us a vivid impression of people queuing up for the Hagley Road bus in 1906, while horsedrawn vehicles and a handcart share the road. On the back is a handwritten message from Kate ...
Postcard showing woman cycling on Hagley Road
Even in 1905, Hagley Road was a busy thoroughfare, and this view, with the Plough and Harrow Hotel on the left hand side, shows us people getting about in a variety of ways. Pedestrians and cyclists ...
Professor Muirhead
The Edgbastonia magazine presents the new University of Birmingham as the pride of all Edgbastonians. Professor Muirhead is proudly claimed as an ‘Edgbastonian Past and Present’. The writer asserts that ...
Programme for a Concert in Cannon Hill Park
Musical performances were regularly organised in the parks in the nineteenth century, and formed a major part of the entertainments programme arranged by the Parks Department. As with other leisure activities ...
Programme of Grand Concerts at Llandudno
An article in the Edgbastonia magazine for January 1883 describes a somewhat hazardous trip undertaken to North Wales by an Edgbaston resident. The writer started out from Llandudno, and although he reached ...
Proposal for a Midlands Arts Centre for Young People
This is the first page of a proposal prepared by John English concerning the establishment in Cannon Hill Park of a Midland Arts Centre, which he hoped would be administered by an independent trust. It ...
Quinton, Harborne and Edgbaston Town Planning Scheme Map
This map illustrates one of Birmingham’s first comprehensive town planning schemes to regulate suburban development in south-west Birmingham. What is remarkable when comparing it to maps from just 20 ...
Refreshment Tariff, Lisseter and Miller
Lisseter and Miller had been asked to quote for the supply of catering for the café in the Botanical Gardens. This is their proposed price list. A note at the top says 'approved'.
Rose Sidgwick
This photograph reveals both Rose Sidgwick’s love of learning and her informal approach, both of which endeared her to students at the University of Birmingham. She was described as having a ‘freshness ...
'Shallus - Let's', by Henry Laxton
This is one of several caricatures published by wounded soldiers in the Edgbaston WW1 military hospital magazine that express deeply conflicted feelings towards the medical and administrative staff.
Illustration ...
Sir Gilbert Barling
In 1920, Barling observed that the education of ‘workmen’ should equip them for ‘the duties of citizenship and for an effective share in the control of industry’.1 As Vice Chancellor of the University ...
Sir William Ashley's Working Notes
This report is discussed elsewhere (see University Council Minutes), forming as it does part of the official university record. This working copy is in a different context, being included in Sir William ...