Media: BOOK - paperback, 192 pages
Author: M. Sharpe
Year: 2015
ISBN: 9781473833449
Other: b&w photos, maps, appendixes, index
Publisher: Pen & Sword

Birmingham, the cradle of the industrial revolution and the world's first manufacturing town, is an important focus for many family historians who will find that their trail leads through it. Rural migrants, Quakers, Jews, Irish, Italians, and more recently people from the Caribbean, South-Asia and China have all made Birmingham their home.This vibrant history is reflected in the city's rich collections of records, and Michael Sharpe's handbook is the ideal guide to them.

He introduces readers to the wealth of information available, providing an essential guide for anyone researching the history of the city or the life of an individual ancestor. Many of these archival holdings are of national and international significance. Yet research in Birmingham can be a challenge because rapid population growth, frequent boundary changes and the city's position straddling three counties mean that family and local history resources are widely dispersed.

'Tracing Your Birmingham Ancestors' is for beginners and expert researchers alike, offering a compendium of sources from legal and ecclesiastical archives, to the records of local government, employers, institutions, clubs, societies and schools. Accessible, informative and extensively referenced, it is the perfect companion for research in Britain's second city.

Contents:
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction: The Workshop of the World
- Brum and Brummies
- Researching in Birmingham
- Scope: The City in Three Counties
- Principal Archives and Sources
- Local History
- How to Use The Book
1. The City and Its People
- Birmingham and Environs
- Finding People: Key Sources
- Local Photographs
- Maps, Gazetteers and Plans
- Newspapers
- Further Information
2. Church and Politics
- The Established Church
- Roman Catholicism
- Non-conformists
- Cemeteries and Burial Grounds
- Civic Gospels: Dissenters and Political Reform
- Chartism and Trade Union
- Further Information
3. City of a Thousand Trades: Industry
- The Midlands Enlightenment
- The Brass Industry
- The Gun Trade
- The Jewellery Trade
- The Toyshop of Europe
- Food and Drink Industry
- Other Industries
- Trade and Commercial Directories
- Apprenticeship Records
- Other Business Records
- Further Information
4. Transport
- Highways and Turnpikes
- Canals
- Railways
- Trams and Buses
- The Motor Industry
- Further Information
5. Education, Health and Institutions
- Birmingham Corporation and City Council
- Into the Workhouse
- Children's Homes
- Hospitals
- Asylums
- Schools
- Universities and Colleges
- Charities and Friendly Societies
- Further Information
6. Law and Order
- The Judicial System
- Court Records
- Crime: From Petty Theft to the Peaky Blinders
- Policing the Town
- Prisons
- Other Judicial Records
- Further Information
7. Migration and Housing
- Rural Migration
- The Jewish Community
- The Irish Community
- The Italian Community
- Travelling Communities: Romany and Gypsy Ancestors
- Housing the Urban Poor
- Housing Records
- Child Emigration
- Caribbean and Asian Heritage
- Further Information
8. Entertaining the Town: Leisure Time
- Libraries, Galleries and Museums
- Artists, Painters and Photographs
- Theatre, Cinema and Variety
- Sport and Parks
- Inns and Public Houses
- Markets, Shops and Fairs
- Midlands Film Archive
- Oral and Community History
- Further Information
9. Before Industry
- The Medieval Town
- Manorial Records
- Tudor and Stuart Periods
- Early Modern Records
- Great Houses and Estates
- Land and Estate Records
- Georgian Birmingham
- Further Information
10. Birmingham at War
- Local Regiments
- Militia and Territorials
- First World War
- Second World War: The Home Front
- War Memorials and Rolls of Honour
- HMS Birmingham
- The Fire Service
- Further Information
Annex 1. Timeline of Birmingham Genealogy
Annex 2. Directory of Archives and Resources
Index