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Articles: The Iron Room, Birmingham Libraries. Recent Articles

Birmingham calling, Birmingham calling children everywhere….

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Children’s Hour

Are you listening carefully ? Then I’ll begin. Once upon a time, and a long time ago it was, there was no television, no CITV and no cartoon channels on cable. Radio (what they called the wireless)…
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Pedrocut said:
Some pictures taken by Sir John Stone in Egypt…

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Excavation in the Archives

16th February 2023 marks 100 years since the opening of the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen. We’ve been doing some digging and it’s amazing what you can find buried in the archives. Photographic…
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I remember going to see the exhibit in New York sometime in the mid 80's. It was in creditable! It was like going to a rock concert, people were lined up to see it. Very well worth it!
 
Britain has a well-deserved place in the history of scientific innovation and one such area was the field of chemistry which flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries. Birmingham played a prominent role in many of these discoveries, with members of the Lunar Society responsible for a significant amount of innovation.

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Making connections

From the 10th-19th March 2023 it’s British Science Week, a celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths run by the British Science Association. This year’s theme is ‘…
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Sam: Timmins (1826 – 1902)

On Tuesday 28 February, I unveiled a Birmingham Civic Society Blue Plaque to Sam: Timmins. Professor Ewan Fernie unveiled one to George Dawson at the same time. Timmins was a very close friend of G…
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The Birmingham Courts

Photographed by C.W. Muscroft. Exterior view of courts from Corporation Street, c1930. [Ref: WPS WK B11/424] When Birmingham became a Municipal Borough in 1838 it obtained responsibility for mainta…
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Monarchy in the archive

In honour of the Coronation of King Charles III on the 6th of May 2023, I have chosen to search through our collections for items that were relatively unique to each Monarch of this country, the Gr…
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Surviving Birmingham vehicle registration documents

Herbet Austin driving an Austin [Ref. WK/B11/5371] The early 1900s saw an increased availability of motor vehicles. The volume of motor vehicles on British roads merited changes to legislatio…
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This may not be the owner mentioned on the book, but in January 1917…
A William Henry Holden of the Crown Toy Co. at 89 Brearley Street was summoned for employing a child underage. The child was 11 years old and employed using a power drill. Maximum penalty of £3 with special costs.
 
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Not sure if this is the right place: I am looking for information on William James, canal builder and associated with the Stratford (on Avon canal) amongst other things. Supposedly he is one of the ”lost voices” of the Industrial Revolution. I really cannot access the Iron Room although I understand there is discussion about him therein.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
There is a book…

oldshirburnian.org.uk

William James (1771-1837): the man who discovered George Stephenson – Miles MacNair (d 50)

Miles MacNair, William James (1771-1837): The man who discovered George Stephenson. William James played a crucial, but largely unremembered role in the development of inland transport in the Indus…
oldshirburnian.org.uk oldshirburnian.org.uk

theironroom.wordpress.com

The lost arm of William James

Whilst trying to compile a short biography of Caroline Colmore (1766-1837), heiress of the Colmore estates in Birmingham, I searched Google Advanced Book Search for results with the exact phrase ‘M…
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Pedrocut said:
There is a book…

oldshirburnian.org.uk

William James (1771-1837): the man who discovered George Stephenson – Miles MacNair (d 50)

Miles MacNair, William James (1771-1837): The man who discovered George Stephenson. William James played a crucial, but largely unremembered role in the development of inland transport in the Indus…
oldshirburnian.org.uk oldshirburnian.org.uk

theironroom.wordpress.com

The lost arm of William James

Whilst trying to compile a short biography of Caroline Colmore (1766-1837), heiress of the Colmore estates in Birmingham, I searched Google Advanced Book Search for results with the exact phrase ‘M…
theironroom.wordpress.com theironroom.wordpress.com
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Thank you Pedro, great information and read! They have the book on Amazon US, it’s currently not available but will be shortly. I am very surprised that his contributions are never talked about anywhere. I consider myself somewhat a student of the Industrial Revolution and had never heard of him until yesterday when my wife and I were watching a BBC show on canals!
Thank you again!
 
Pedrocut said:
theironroom.wordpress.com

It’s ‘Go, Go, Go!’ for the Birmingham Super Prix

Birmingham has an illustrious history of motor racing; for those of us old enough to remember, think back to when Nigel Mansell won the Formula One World Championship in 1992, and who can forget th…
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So disappointing that the race did not continue. In Nashville they started similar racing about 4 years ago and is going very strong. Not really considered a GP although very close with Indy car and GP teams and drivers participating.
 
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