Centre for Midlands History and Cultures

Thursday 13 March         7:00 – 8:30pm Chamberlain’s Shadow; the campus, the clock tower and the colonial secretary. Sheldon K. Goodman The tallest freestanding clock tower in the world stands proudly at the heart of the University of Birmingham campus. But who was the man it was built to commemorate, and what can we make of … Continue reading “CMHC March Seminar [Online]”

Thursday 20 February  7:00 – 8:30pm [Online] ‘Variety and Choice: Birmingham Buttons and New Modes of Making’ Jen Dixon Buttons were an important fashion adornment on eighteenth-century clothing, especially men’s clothing. Inside each circle were worlds of pattern, colour, texture and reflected light. Part of the desire for buttons included novelty, variety and choice in … Continue reading “CMHC February Seminar [Online]”

The Centre is pleased to share the full list of seminars for January-May 2025, all are welcome, please do join us in-person or online as specified. Thursday  16  January (5:45-7:00pm)  In person – UoB Medical School Room WF15 Professor Jonathan Reinarz: ‘When do we celebrate?: 200 hundred years of Birmingham Medical School’ This seminar is … Continue reading “CMHC Seminars for 2025”

A guest blog piece from Gin Warren, Doctoral Researcher at the University of Cambridge. Gin attended the Centre for Midlands History and Cultures conference, ‘Landscape and Green Spaces in the Midlands: New Directions in Garden History’ held at Winterbourne House and Gardens in July 2024. ‘Keep off the grass’: subtle ways to exclude poor people from … Continue reading “‘Keep off the grass’: subtle ways to exclude poor people from ‘public’ green spaces”

The Friends of the Centre for Midlands History and Cultures in collaboration with the Nineteenth-Century Centre welcomes: Dr Victoria Mills (Birkbeck) “Orchid Jo”: Empire, Satire, and Political Self-Fashioning Narratives of nineteenth-century orchid collecting and their role in constructions of personal and national identity. Wednesday 27 November 5:00-6:30pm In person: Arts Building Room 104, University of … Continue reading “CMHC and Nineteenth-Century Centre Visiting Speaker Seminar – 27 November”

The Museum of Carpet at Kidderminster is a relative newcomer to the Midlands museum scene, having opened its doors to the public in 2012 after receiving a major Heritage Lottery Fund grant which enabled the conversation of a Grade II-listed building into a modern museum, complete with display galleries, archival space and rentable offices (to … Continue reading “The Museum of Carpet, Kidderminster”

Since its formation in 1948, successive members of the Centre for Regional and Local History (CRLH) – formerly the Centre for English Local History – have collected printed images of English buildings and landscapes (and some from Wales). Most of the material dates from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but there are a few items … Continue reading “Views of England and Wales: A New Online Collection”

In our first post of 2024, Catherine Clarke, PhD candidate at Keele University reveals the findings of a research visit to the British Library, made possible through a Midland History bursary. In 2023 I was able to visit the British Library to carry out research for my thesis on the monastic houses of Shropshire. One … Continue reading “Lansdowne MS 436 – The Romsey Legendary”

Birmingham Heritage Week is an annual event that sees local spaces across the city open their doors to visitors who would like to learn more about Birmingham’s rich and vibrant heritage. This year, we’re delighted to host several events through the Centre, including a workshop on family archives with Dr Imogen Peck at the Cadbury … Continue reading “CMHC Host Events for Birmingham Heritage Week (8-17 September 2023)”