As regular visitors to Archives & Collections and Birmingham Libraries will know, access to Ancestry is via a PC at the Library of Birmingham or a Community Library. Due to the current situation, however, Ancestry have kindly provided a link so that you can access the Birmingham records for free, from your own home, and, to get you off the ground, we’ve put together some step-by-step s guidance!

Where do I start? You can access the link from the library catalogue homepage and download this pdf guide designed to assist your genealogical research should you be new to exploring your family tree or simply need a few tips on how to navigate around the pages. Ancestry does appear slightly differently depending on which browser you are using (Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome and so on) and the following is based on using Internet Explorer. Please note that you do need to create an account and sign in to Ancestry, but you do not need to enter any card payment details to access the Birmingham records.

Happy Searching!

The 22nd of June, 1948, was a deeply important date in British history. It marked the docking of the Empire Windrush, in Tilbury, Essex. The landing of the Windrush is still a relatively little-known event in the British past, yet even less is known about the lives of the people who arrived aboard the Ship. But you can use the Archives & Collections newspaper collections at the Library of Birmingham to begin to explore the very early experiences of the Jamaicans who travelled to Britain aboard the Empire Windrush, before journeying to the city of Birmingham. The newspaper collections are an invaluable source which can be accessed to explore some of the experiences of Black and Asian communities in Birmingham. This article ‘Jamaicans Seeking Work in Britain,’ which appeared in the Birmingham Mail on the day in which the Empire Windrush landed, contains the now-familiar quote which reveals a huge amount about the ways in which Britain was perceived in her colonies, ‘some think the streets of Britain are paved with gold.’ The article also features the large sub-title ‘Conditions at Home ‘Pretty Bad.’’ However, in its reportage, the paper fails to make any link between British colonialism and the state of the economy in Jamaica.

You can see more newspaper articles relating to Windrush here.

If you love reading but age, disability or frailty prevents you visiting the library, then let the library (van!) come to you!

Library Services at Home is for residents of Birmingham who love reading but age, disability or caring prevents them from visiting their local library. The service operates in all wards of the city and also delivers larger loans to sheltered accommodation, residential homes and nursing homes. The service has been in operation since 1981!

Customers who qualify for the service are people who find it difficult to get out of their homes without help due to illness, mobility problems, age, frailty, disability and people with full time caring commitments, and the aim of Library Services at Home is to ensure that all people within the local community who are unable to use library services in the traditional way have access to reading materials.

A monthly supply of books/audio books are delivered directly to the customer’s home by a trained, trusted and experienced member of library staff. The items are pre-selected by library staff on behalf of the customer. Library Services at Home’s customers have access to the same range of materials as customers of community libraries and can reserve items free of charge, and the service can provide regular print, large print or audio books to meet customer needs. 

Please note – the service is temporarily suspended due to Covid-19. We are still taking applications for the service, just click here.

We’ll let you know as soon as we are back on the road!

We’re all getting used to the new ‘normal’ and all the ups and downs which living in lockdown brings, whether that’s social distancing or self-isolating, working from home, working on the front line, home-schooling, or finding new ways of filling lots of free time, so how will this period of our lives go down in history? There will of course be official records of the pandemic at an international, national and local level, but how will future generations learn about your experience of living through the pandemic in Birmingham?

As the city’s archive service, Birmingham Archives & Collections collects and cares for records of individuals, families, communities, businesses and organisations within Birmingham city boundaries so that they can be used by future generations. These archives are used by historians, academics, teachers, students, family historians and many others to understand what life was like in the past.

And, here’s how you can help document this significant period in our city’s history! We’d like you to create or collect material relating to your experience of the Covid-19 pandemic in Birmingham for us to preserve for future generations. Everyone,  whether you’re young or old, a key worker, work in a business or a shop, whether you’re at school, at university, retired, or volunteering, your personal experience of the current time is unique and will help historians and researchers of the future build a wider picture of what it was like living in Birmingham during the pandemic of 2020. Find out more about what we’re collecting and how you can contribute here.

We look forward to seeing what you create or collect!