Collections

There are approximately 500,000 items held at Birmingham City University Arts, Design and Media archive, spanning thirty collections covering art and design, photography, education, music, media, jewellery, architecture and fashion.

They range in size from less than fifty items to over 40,000 and contain paper documents and books as well as artworks, designs, posters, photographs and slides. Thirteen collections have been catalogued to date.

School of Art Archive

This collection includes books, student records, programmes and photographs that document the history of the School.

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Public Arts Commissions Agency

The Public Arts Commissions Agency (PACA) was formed in 1987 as an educational charity for public art, art projects and research.  

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Marion Richardson Collection

Marion Richardson was an influential art teacher and pioneer of the child art movement. Find out more about the collection.

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Larry Cartoon Collection

Larry Parkes was a cartoonist and illustrator, the collection contains cartoons on the subject of art and art galleries.

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The Craftsman’s Club Collection

The Craftsman’s Club was a group founded in 1902 by Robert Catterson-Smith, Headmaster of the School of Art from 1903 to 1920.

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Margaret Street Restoration Project

The collection contains documents and colour photographs that document the progress of the restoration of the School of Art in 1994-1995.

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Margaret Street Centenary Folio

The collection is made up of 12 unframed original art prints by members of staff of the School of Fine Art.

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Birmingham Billboard Project

This collection documents an art project organised by Graham Fagen, who was a member of staff at the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design.

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Hodgson Art History Collection

This collection contains files and papers produced by Frank Hodgson as a teacher at the Birmingham College of Arts and Crafts.

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Bowater Family Collection

This collection focuses on the history of the Bowater family and the artistic development of their daughter Gertrude Ann.

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Plaster Casts Collection

This collection consists of plaster casts used for teaching in the Birmingham School of Art during the nineteenth century.

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