Now in its 9th year, Birmingham Heritage week began on Friday 8th September and will run until Sunday, 17th September. Coordinated by Birmingham Museums Trust, Birmingham Heritage Week is a fantastic opportunity to explore the wonderful heritage and culture of the City of Birmingham.
Archives & Collections at the Library of Birmingham is delighted to be playing host to a series of workshops, running in our Wolfson Centre for Archival Research.
On Monday, 11th September, our Friends’ group will be running Newspapers in History – Research Workshop. You can join Rachel MacGregor and John Townley as they delve into the world of researching old newspapers, giving hints and tips for researching subjects, people and places, and how to navigate online newspaper databases. On display will be examples of newspapers and news cuttings from the collections held here at the Library of Birmingham. The workshop will run twice, at 11.30am and 2.30pm. Booking is essential via the website link above.
On Friday, 15th September, the Wolfson Centre will be hosting workshops organised by the Lunar Society of Treasures from Birmingham Archives – C18th & C19th maps of Empire. The sessions will take place 11.30am – 1pm and 2.30pm – 4pm and will have on display rarely seen maps and atlases showing the voyages of discovery and the growth of the British Empire. On show will be the above map of Bengal, Bahar, Oude and Allahabad, by James Rennell, late Surveyor General in Bengal, 1786. This was engraved from the original drawing on the same scale in the possession of the Honourable East India Company. Booking is essential via the link above.
On Saturday, 16th September, we will be hosting our final event Spaces of Sanctuary: Birmingham Refugee Histories. Join Dr. Sian Roberts from the University of Birmingham, as she takes us on a journey of the history of refugees in the city, starting with a talk in the Heritage Learning Space at 1pm and then a pop-up exhibition in the Wolfson Centre from 2pm. The exhibition will have on display documents ranging from the Belgian Refugee Register from the War Refugees Fund (Birmingham and District) Collection c.1918 (MS 652) to the records of the Indian Workers Association (MS 2141) and the papers of of Avtar Jouhl (MS 2142) c.1970s, to give an overview of the longstanding support Birmingham has offered to refugees. We would love to see representatives from refugee groups within the community come along; Sian is particularly interested in identifying refugee communities whose voices have yet to be heard. No booking is necessary, however please do visit the website above for further details.
There are hundreds of events to choose from and you can browse them all via the Birmingham Heritage Week website. You can search for events near you using the search box, or you can narrow down events based on type – there are tours and walks, exhibitions, workshops and family events. You’ll be spoilt for choice!
Nicola Crews, Archivist.
The Iron Room 