Boy with Flag by Vanley Burke
Vanley Burke’s photographs are noted for making visible in a sensitive way black daily life in Britain. Looking straight at the camera the boy presents the viewer with a strong sense of his own identity. ...
Cannon Hill Park Open-Air Swimming Pool
There were open-air swimming pools at Cannon Hill Park, and at Victoria Park, Small Heath. The pool at Cannon Hill Park was opened at the same time as the park, in September 1873, while the pool at Victoria ...
Children playing football in Holliday Road, Handsworth by Vanley Burke
This photograph is part of a Digital Handsworth online gallery: Vanley Burke Galleries
Photograph copyright: Vanley Burke
Crescent Bicycles Catalogue, Arthur E. Sayer & Co., Sherlock Street, Birmingham
This catalogue shows that companies were actively marketing bicycles to women by 1900. Inside we find the 'Crescent No 3' Ladies Safety model, which has 'saddle and handle positions arranged to allow ...
Faces and Places: Dick Turpin
Dick Turpin and Family
[submitted by Birmingham Stories]
It is often observed amongst archivists that we frequently come across some of our most interesting findings when we are searching for ...
Gymnasium at Highbury Hospital
This photograph shows WW1 wounded soldiers on the pioneering orthopaedic rehabilitation programme at Highbury Hospital (previously the residence of Joseph Chamberlain) in the Mosley suburb of Birmingham. ...
Ice skating at Cannon Hill Park
John Phillips, philanthropist (born 1836)
Between 1851 and 1871, the number of Jewish families living in Edgbaston had increased from two to a hundred - an indication of the growing prosperity of many Jews.1 John Phillips was one of a number ...
Label from Men's Tennis Trouser
These flannel tennis trousers were probably worn by Alderman Wilfred Byng Kenrick. This label is an interesting early example of washing instructions.
Ladies Bicycle, from the Crescent Cycles Catalogue
Bicycles were being actively marketed to women by 1900, as this catalogue entry shows.
Lantern Slide of Women Wearing Rational Dress
This photograph, probably taken in London, shows women wearing short trousers which were worn for cycling. Because clothes like this were based upon function rather than fashion, they became known as ...
Lantern Slide Showing Woman Wearing Rational Dress
This photograph, probably taken in London, shows a woman wearing short trousers which were worn for cycling. Because clothes like this were based upon function rather than fashion, they became known as ...
Men's Tennis Trousers
These flannel tennis trousers were probably worn by Alderman Wilfred Byng Kenrick. The Edgbaston Archery and Lawn Tennis Society declared in 1879 that ‘each Member (Gentleman) playing Tennis shall wear ...
Minutes of Edgbaston Archery Association AGM
The Edgbaston Archery Association (later the Edgbaston Archery and Lawn Tennis Association) was formed in 1860. Membership was carefully controlled: ‘applicants for admission to be proposed by a Member, ...
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 ...
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 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 ...
Roller Skates
Ice skating on frozen ponds, boating pools and lakes in Birmingham’s parks was popular during both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although restrictions were placed on the activity by the Parks ...