Austin A90 Atlantic Record Breaker
Built at Longbridge, this car established world endurance records at the Indianapolis Raceway in April 1949. It evokes excitement but also illustrates post-war realities in Birmingham and beyond. Launched ...
Bath Row Redevelopment Scheme
Pencil sketch by Reginald Edgecombe depicting an artist impression of new housing and road infrastructure for the new Bath Row Redevelopment Zone which encompassed Lee Bank.
Birmingham Bus Crew Member
This photograph was taken some time after Birmingham City Transport abandoned it’s ‘colour bar’ in 1954 (see 'Transport Workers in South-West Birmingham'). Immigrants often chose to record their status ...
Birmingham Buses and the Colour Bar
Mirroring the situation in other British cities, in post-war Birmingham black people were barred from employment as conductors or drivers on buses. Although they were employed in local authority garages ...
Birmingham City Transport Bus Ticket
Birmingham City Transport [BCT]: Serving Passengers and Rate Payers
The bus ticket was purchased by a worker at Longbridge. It has been selected to represent BCT’s obligation to run services profitably. ...
Birmingham City Transport Report
Recruitment in Eire 1951
This report reflects a major aspect of Birmingham’s dependence on immigrant labour in the 1950s and beyond.1 Key sectors became associated with the Irish workforce, including ...
Birmingham Tram Escutcheon & Standard
This emblem spread across suburban tram routes, particularly from 1911. In June the city took over services of the City of Birmingham Tramways Company on the Bristol and Pershore Roads. This action was ...
Boys sitting on cars, Balsall Heath
From a series of photographs taken in Balsall Heath, by Alan J. Wood.
Bristol Road Tramcar
The Bristol Road Tramway1
This tram (fleet number 395) is a rare survivor of Birmingham’s once mighty electric tram fleet.2 It was built in 1911-12 and preserved in 1953, just weeks before the tram ...
Bristol Road Tramway
Whilst the soundscape of trams moving along Birmingham streets ceased in 1953, this distinctive recording was a notable feature of the ‘tram room’ at Birmingham Science Museum for almost fifty years more. ...
Cadbury Barges
Frank Newbould’s picture unites the corporate Cadbury view of the ‘factory in a garden’ with a ‘Roses and Castles’ folk image of canal life. Neither does justice to economic and social realities, where ...
Cadbury Works
Michael Reilly’s picture depicts an industrial yet wholesome scene and owes much to its vibrant colours. The polluting aspects of chocolate production are minimised with chimneys seemingly devoid of any ...
Cadbury Works Locomotive ‘Number One’
Coal and Chocolate in Bournville
This locomotive provides evidence of the coal-powered reality behind Bournville’s ‘chocolate box’ image, cultivated over many years by the Cadbury Company. Now owned ...
Ceylon
Coastline and Fishing Boat, nr Columbo'. Ceylon [Sri Lanka]. From the collection of Sir Benjamin Stone.
Children in abandoned car, Lozells
Most working class homes were so small and overcrowded that there was little space to play indoors. Parents encouraged their children to play outside in the street. The street became a place for running, ...
Children taking part in a protest for the introduction of road crossings
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 ...
Evacuation of children from Snow Hill station
World War 2 affected the lives of children far more than any previous war. The fear of enemy bombing raids over British cities led to the mass evacuation of children to safer, rural areas. Between August ...