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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 10h

#NavyHistory Our printed collections include copies of the Navy List like this one from June 1815. The list is an official record of naval officers, their ranks and the ships they were appointed to. The first list was published in 1814. Ref - B 359.30942 #LibraryofBham #NatMuseumRN

A page in a book - title at the top is The Navy List. Beneath this a listing of commissioners of the office of Lord High Admiral. Below this, a listing of the flag officers of his majesty’s fleet.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 1d

#BirminghamHistory We were sad to hear of the passing earlier this year of Dr Marie Rowlands, eminent historian of Catholicism in the Midlands. Also writing texts on the industrial heritage of the West Midlands tinyurl.com/DrRowlands Ref: WK/B11/8651 #LibraryofBham @rcbirmingham.bsky.social

A street scene - an underpass with a mosaic dedicated to JFK in the foreground. On the left, the Catholic cathedral of Birmingham designed in the Victorian Gothic style. On the right, a1960s office block. A public transport bus in front of the building.

The front cover of a book. Author’s name at the top is Marie B Rowlands. Beneath this is the title – Men and Masters in the West Midland metalware trade before the industrial revolution

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 1d

#MapOnATuesday #Harborne this week is this 1907 Harborne Tenants Ltd plan for the Moor Pool Estate developed between 1907 and 1912 as a garden suburb, designed by architects Martin & Martin. Ref - Medical Health Officers Report, 1908 L 45.11 #LibraryofBham @moorpoolht.bsky.social

A housing development plan with a series of avenues and thoroughfares linking between each other in the top centre of the map. A peripheral road circumnavigates the estate in the bottom of the plan. In the bottom left, a scale and compass along with the caption Harborne Tenants Ltd. In the bottom right, details regard the firm of architects and their office location.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 2d

#PowerAndPride2025 tinyurl.com/BHMOct25 Local photographer Herbert Walters’ collection-Portraits of Black Britain (MS 5183/3) has become available on birmingham.access.preservica.com/archive. Photographs mostly taken in Birmingham and London between 2008–2022 #LibraryofBham @blackhistorymonth.org.uk

A group of people assembled outside the Library of Birmingham. A young female figure in the forefront of the photo is wearing a face mask and holding a banner with the words Black Lives Matter on it. She is also wearing a face mask. People surrounding the figure are also holding placards and wearing face masks. In the background, the reflective quality of the windows on the ground floor of the library reflects the buildings and scene across the road from the library.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 3d

#SundayShowcase #PowerAndPride2025 tinyurl.com/BHMOct25 this week is Black Success by Tony Sewell. Discover how the Windrush generation thrived and the lessons these stories offer for young Black people. Ref: Black & South Asian History Collection 305.896 #bhmuk #LibraryofBham

Two copies of a book on a table. Title of the book is Black Success by Tony Sewell. A quote from the CEO of Civic Future beneath this.
Behind the table the books are resting on is a bookcase. A tall metal cabinet on the left and a door on the right.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 4d

#CityOf1000Trades today is this trade card for John Stokes, coal and coke dealer based in 1852 at the Old Wharf which at the time was a pivotal industrial site on Paradise Street for coal distribution from the 18th century onwards. Ref: MS 4834/1280 #LibraryofBham

An illustrated trade card. Text at the top of the card reads – Old Wharf, Birmingham. Beneath this is a line drawing of the exterior of a building. A central three storey block with two extensions with archways for vehicles and pedestrians on the left and right. Numerous horses and carts circling around the building. Beneath the illustration is text highlighting that John Stokes, coal and coke dealer operates from the premises.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 5d

#PhotoFriday this week is this photograph of Aston Cross Library in 1913. One of the Carnegie Libraries erected at the expense of Andrew Carnegie. Opened in October 1903, the library unfortunately closed in the 1990s. Ref: WK/A7/90 #LibraryofBham #Brumpic #Aston

The exterior of an austere three storey building built in the late Victorian Gothic style. Above the first tier of the building is a facia with the words Public Library Reading Rooms written on it. A public notice between the two large windows at ground level relating to library regulations. A lamppost in the centre of the photograph in front of the building. Tram cable wires above the building in the top centre of the photograph.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 6d

#Rackhams - Selling all the ‘loveliest things in the world’, included in the Birmingham Sketch - magazine of the Sporting, Social and Commercial Life of Birmingham, August 1964. Reference - LF 08.2. What are your memories of the shop? #LibraryofBham #houseoffraser

An advertisement, a colour illustration - an escalator snaking vertically across the centre with figures positioned on it. Text written along the length of the escalator - How Nice All The Loveliest Things in the World Can Be Found at Rackhams. Lines running horizontal across the advert signifying the floors of a department store. Each slat populated with figures and activity. At the bottom of the advert, text promoting the shop. The word Rackhams in bold print in the bottom right.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 7d

For this week’s blog, Archivist Nicola opens the page on the work she has been doing to safely move the archives and local studies collections from Sutton Coldfield Library to the Library of Birmingham - theironroom.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/s... Image Ref: BCU/13 #LibraryofBham #RoyalSutColTC

A page of a book. The writing is from left to right across the page. The words are written in ink. The page appears to have been subject to some time of erosion due to the passage of time as the book is of some considerable age.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 7d

#BirminghamArts The Faery Calendar drawn and written by Birmingham artist Bernard Sleigh (1872 – 1954). Engraved on wood by Ivy A. Ellis. Do we believe in fairies, children? Ref - LS 6/287915, Local Authors Collection #LibraryofBham

Woodcut illustration titled July Hamadryads. A forest scene, female figures on the left and right of the illustration appear to emerge from the trees. Both are naked - the figure on the left offers up her hands in prayer while the figure on the right has her head bowed looking down at three rabbits in the immediate foreground of the illustration. In the centre of the illustration are a group of naked figures dancing in a circle. In the top centre is a male figure - half man, half goat blowing into an instrument composed of reeds.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 8d

The Edgbaston Priory tennis club is celebrating its 150th anniversary and seeing as today is #NSHD2025, here’s a photo of Wimbledon Champion Dorothy Round winning the club trophy against World No 1 Antia Lizana in 1937. Ref - WK/E1/1215 #sportinghistory #EdgbastonPriory #LibraryofBham

Photograph of a tennis match viewed from above. Two female players are in action on the court on the left of the photograph. The umpire is in his chair on the right of the photo. A pavilion in the back centre with crowds surrounding the court on all sides. A wooded area in the top left of the photograph.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 8d

#MapOnATuesday this week we bring the 1908 Population map of Birmingham highlighting the move away from city centre habitation to more hospitable suburban living. Ref - Medical Health Officers Report, 1908 L 45.11 #LibraryofBham

A map showing the wards and districts of Birmingham. A thick line in the middle of the map surrounds those wards classified as part of the city centre. Each ward and district are named and have a corresponding number. Wards and districts have a colour shading. A key beneath the map indicates what the different colours signify.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 9d

#BirminghamHistory Why not join our pals from the Birmingham People’s History Archive on Saturday for a free living history event at All Saints Church, Kings Heath: bpha.online #LibraryofBham #birminghampha

A flyer for a Birmingham People’s History Archive event. Decisions and Consequences event on Saturday 4 October. Details of the schedule beneath this. A reproduction of a photograph of a CND march below this on the left of the flyer. More text about the event and amenities to the right of the photograph and beneath.

Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 10d

#SundayShowcase this week promotes two new additions to our #VCH collection for Staffordshire - a volume on Burton Upon Trent and another on Tamworth and Drayton Bassett, both edited by Nigel J. Tringham. Ref - AQ 942.464 and 469 #LibraryofBham @vchlondon.bsky.social

The title pages of two books resting on a cushion. The tome on the left is the History of the County of Staffordshire volume on Burton Upon Trent and the other on the right is a volume on Tamworth and Drayton Bassett, both edited by Nigel J. Tringham.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 11d

#CityOf1000Trades Charles Reeves was operating from the Toledo Works, Charlotte Street from 1853 having previously been located in Bartholomew Street. The company’s swords won a prize at the 1851 Great Exhibition. Ref – The New Illustrated Directory (1858) LF 06 #LibraryofBham

A coloured illustration of the exterior of a factory. The front of the factory is in the immediate foreground of the illustration. A sign stating Toledo Works is above the entrance and another sign below the highest row of windows says Charles Reeves. Pedestrians walk past the front of the building, a horse and cart in the road by the entrance. Below the border of the illustration, the words - Charles Reeves. Behind the frontage of the building is a large courtyard on the right and a series of working huts on the left. Three chimneys in the background of the illustration marking the far border of the premises. Above the illustration of the factory is the insertion of a cartouche showing three figures engaged in shooting guns. The cartouche is supported by the artistic representation of the stems of a plant. Above this, the following words - Toledo Works. To the left of this, the words - Charlotte Street, Birmingham and to the right - Air Street, Piccadilly, London.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 12d

#PhotoFriday this week is this photo of a fire at the King’s Hall Market, Corporation Street in 1962. Originally a non – conformist church, it then became a cinema before conversion to a market hall in the 1920s. Ref – WK/B11/6404 #LibraryofBham #Brumpic

Plumes of smoke in the top centre of the photograph wafting from the top of a Victorian Gothic building. The building has ornate Gothic style windows. Above the entrance is a sign indicating the building is the King’s Hall Market. A fireman’s ladder on the far left of the photograph. A large crowd of people gather in front of the building in the central foreground of the photograph. Another building on the far right of the photograph.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 13d

#BirminghamHistory today brings you these hand-made playing cards drawn and painted on the back of cards advertising an anti-slavery meeting held at Birmingham Town Hall on 22 January 1873. Ref - MS 1509/5/69 #LibraryofBham #bmusic_ltd

Three playing cards. The two in the background have colour illustrations - the one on the left had a heart in the top left corner and a drawing of a young female figure blowing a musical instrument. The card on the right has a spade in the top left corner along with an illustration of the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. In the foreground is another card with text detailing an anti – slavery meeting taking place at Birmingham Town Hall on 22 January 1873.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 14d

As well as holding the #FrancisBedford photographic collection, we also retain one of his albums celebrating a trip to The Holy Land, Egypt, Athens, etc. for H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (1865). Ref: EFP/096/AO 096.7/1865. Here’s the customary sphinx and pyramid for your delectation #LibraryofBham

Desert scene. Eroded face of a sphinx on the far left of the photograph. Two figures reclining halfway up the bust of the Sphinx and three more gathered in the bottom right-hand corner. A camel to the right of the sphinx with a figure sat on the floor holding the camel by a rope. A solitary figure standing just to the right of the camel. A pyramid in the centre of the photograph. Sand dunes to the front of it. Another figurer sat halfway up the dune on the far right of the photo.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 15d

Thanks to all who visited us during #BHeritageWeek - we’ve had another full programme of events including topics such as archiving sound recordings, historic maps, John Baskerville and the library’s Shakespeare treasures. We’re already looking forward to 2026! #BHeritageWeek #LibraryofBham

Photo 1 - Family History Taster session. Four people with their backs to the camera sat in a row looking at computer screens. A female figure at the end of the row on the far right of the photo is standing and bent slightly over the table providing guidance. A male figure to the left of the group stands and observes.

Photo 2 - a group of people are sat with their backs to the camera looking at a large screen in the background centre of the photograph. A figure in the top left of the photo is pointing to the screen and imparting information.

Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 15d

#MapOnATuesday this week is Samuel Bradford’s 1751 survey of Birmingham. Ref - MAL/14002. It includes south views of St. Martin’s and St. Philip’s churches. Engraved and published by Thomas Jefferys, London. #LibraryofBham

A Birds Eye view of a town centre - streets and roads crossing each other. Most of the centre is heavily populated, leading out to less densely occupied fields. A plaque in the top right identifies the map is Samuel Bradford’s 1751 survey of Birmingham. Below is a key to buildings and features on the map. A compass is in the top centre of the map and directly below it, the text - St. Martin’s parish which is also repeated at the bottom of the map. On the top and centre right of the map are illustrations of the south views of St. Martin and St. Philips churches.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 16d

#BirminghamHistory this 1934 brochure for the City of Birmingham Gas Department – at the time, the largest municipal gas undertaking in the world. Ref - Birmingham Town Hall centenary, Programmes, tickets, newspaper cuttings etc. 1934. LFF 38 #LibraryofBham

A brochure – text at the top of the brochure reads - City of Birmingham Gas Department, the largest municipal gas undertaking in the world. Portrait of Joseph Chamberlain on the left and Councillor Hume on the right. Beneath this is a map showing the City of Birmingham boundary with dots highlighting the other towns and cities in the surrounding area. Beneath this are two images of show rooms.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 17d

#SundayShowcase #PeakyBlinders While we await the film, why not take a look at Peaky Blinders: The Real Gangs and Gangsters by Carl Chinn. This book delves deeper into the crimes and political issues at the heart of the backstreet gangs of Birmingham before 1914. Ref: 42.31 #LibraryofBham

Copy of a book on a clothed flat surface. Title of the book is Peaky Blinders – The Real Gangs and Gangsters by Carl Chinn. Front cover is facing on and shows a young male figure wearing a suit traditional of the Edwardian age – he is also wearing a cap pulled down over his eyes. Behind him on the right are two older figures - a male and female again wearing clothing of the age. Behind the book is a large bookcase full of books.

Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 18d

#Yardley #SalesCatalogue We haven’t brought you a Birmingham Sales Catalogue in a while. Here’s a plan of an estate in Yardley close to the vicarage. The auction took place at the Hen & Chickens Hotel, New Street in October 1876. SC/Bham 105a #LibraryofBham

A map. Heading reads - Plan of a freehold estate in Yardley in the county of Worcester. For sale by auction by Mr Daniel Holloway. At the Hen & Chickens Hotel, New Street on Tuesday October 3 1876. Map show the outline of streets and roads. There are several colour sections on the map each with a number between 1 – 5 showing their lot number. The border between pieces of land in each lot is visible along with symbols identifying trees.

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Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 19d

#AcocksGreen #PhotoFriday this week takes us to this scene of Acocks Green village in 1932. A note on the back of the photograph states the photo was taken around the time the New Inn opened. Ref – WK/A1/12 #LibraryofBham #Brumpic

Photograph looking down on to the centre of a village. Pedestrian islands in the centre of the photo with the island in the background housing a tram shelter. A tram on the far left of the photograph near to a public house with a sign for the New Inn hanging from a post outside. Houses in the background on the left. The right background is populated by shop fronts. Figures liberally dispersed across the photograph. A line of cars in the bottom foreground of the photograph.

Archives & Collections, Library of Birmingham @theironroom.bsky.social · 20d

#ParkerCollection is the Library of Birmingham’s unique archive of educational books and games for children, dating back to the Edwardian and Victorian periods, games including Happy Families, c. 1900. Ref: Parker Collection (087.1/031)
www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/50139/e... #LibraryofBham

A coloured illustrated playing card. Drawing of a young figure bent over a large wooden basket full of water. A makeshift boat made of paper and twigs sits afloat the water. A large tap in the far left of the drawing. The child with his back to the viewer is wearing an Edwardian child’s sailor suit and cap. Beneath this, the words - Made in England. The words - Happy Families above the illustration along with 6d to the right of this.

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