Birmingham Archives and Heritage are a collection at the

Library of Birmingham A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

, and hold the archives for the city of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The archives are held at Victoria Square, Birmingham, and run by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...

. The records date back to the 12th century and are accessible for multiple levels of research, from family histories to a wider range of historical interest of the area.

Women's history records

The archives hold a number of specialist collections relating to

women's history Women's history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman's rights throughout recorded history, personal achievement over a period of ...

such as records relating to

Suffragism Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

in Birmingham, including records relating to Winson Green Prison where

force feeding Force-feeding is the practice of feeding a human or animal against their will. The term ''gavage'' (, , ) refers to supplying a substance by means of a small plastic feeding tube passed through the nose ( nasogastric) or mouth (orogastric) into t ...

of women on

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

was first carried out. Also held are records relating to women's lives during the Second World War such as those of the female munitions workers at

Birmingham Small Arms The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand, power, and ma ...

and John Lucas Ltd.

Women's health Women's health differs from that of men in many unique ways. Women's health is an example of population health, where health is defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not mer ...

is dealt with in a number of collections, such as the journal of T.A. Finigan, an Irish Priest, which deals with women of the Irish community in Birmingham, or the records of the Birmingham Association for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child (c.1906–1976).Women and Health.
Birmingham Archives and Heritage. Retrieved 5 January 2016.

References

External links

Birmingham Archives and Heritage website
Year of establishment missing Archives in the West Midlands (county) History of the West Midlands (county) History of Birmingham, West Midlands Culture in Birmingham, West Midlands History of women in the United Kingdom {{library-struct-stub