Collections Research

Current Research includes:

Suburban Birmingham, Spaces and places: 1880-1960

Led by the University of Birmingham working with Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, and Birmingham Libraries and Archives. The project team will use these Birmingham collections to research the history of Birmingham suburbs. The research will be published online and used to create public displays. The project runs from 2008 to 2011. 

Previous Research includes:

Archaeology

• Luristan Bronzes in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (PDF document). The collections of 'Luristan' and other Iranian bronze artefacts.

Birmingham Cuniform Texts - Translations

• The tablets translated in Birmingham Cuneiform Texts - Translations Part 1 (PDF document) were first published in Watson, P.J., Catalogue of Cuneiform Tablets in Birmingham City Museum Volume 1 – Neo-Sumerian Texts from Drehem (Aris & Phillips, Warminster, 1986). The majority of the tablets here come from the Sumerian town of Puzrish-Dagan which was on the modern site of Drehem in southern Iraq.
• The tablets translated in Birmingham Cuneiform Texts - Translations Part 2 (PDF document) were first published in Watson, P.J., Catalogue of Cuneiform Tablets in Birmingham City Museum Volume 2 – Neo-Sumerian Texts from Umma and Other Sites (Aris & Phillips, Warminster, 1993). The majority of the tablets in Part 2 below came from the Sumerian city of Umma in what is now southern Iraq.
• At the time the standard practice for editions of such tablets was to publish copies (line drawings), summary contents and indices making them accessible only to those who could read the cuneiform script. Subsequently they were made available online by the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative where scans of the tablets can be found together with transliterations. However, as neither the original publication nor the cdli site contain translations it has been decided to make these available here. To access those scans relevant to Birmingham Cuneiform Texts Part 1, log on to http://cdli.ucla.edu click on cdli search and then select primary publication “begins with” and enter BCT 1 and click search. To access those scans relevant to Birmingham Cuneiform Texts Part 2 enter BCT 2.

West Midlands Archaeological Collections Research Unit

• Checklist of Non-local Pre-historic Material from England in West Midlands Museums (PDF document) - Phil Watson, Tim Bridges, Sara Wear, Philip Wise.
• Irish Antiquities in West Midlands Museums (PDF document) - Phil Watson, Philip Wise, Debbie Klemperer and David Symons.
• Pre-Historic Antiquities from France in West Midlands Museums (PDF document) - Phil Watson.

Natural History

Birmingham Ornithology Collections

• Birmingham Ornithology Collections - Part 1 The R W Chase Collection of British Birds (PDF document). Robert William Chase (1852-1927) was an extremely active member of the Birmingham Natural History and Philosophical Society. In June 1924 his whole collection was purchased by the Feeney Charitable Trust for just over £3,000 and presented to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
• Birmingham Ornithology Collections - Part 2 The W R Lysaght Collection of Birds  (PDF document). The collection of William Royse Lysaght C.B.E. (1858 - 1945) was essentially that of E.M. Connop of Wroxham, near Norwich, acquired in 1912 or 1913. The collection was acquired by Birmingham in 1954 during the time when a new Natural History display was being developed in the branch museum at Cannon Hill Park.
• Birmingham Ornithology Collections - Part 3 The J L Auden Collection of Birds (PDF document). The bulk of the John Lorimer Auden (1894 - 1959) collection was presented to Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery in 1962 by Repton School, Derbyshire.
• Birmingham Ornithology Collections - Part 4 The General Collection of Brish Birds (PDF document). The general collection of British birds comprises just over a thousand specimens of mounted birds and study skins. They were acquired over a period of 80 years from 1912 to 1992.
• Birmingham Ornithology Collections - Part 5 The Collection of Foreign Birds (PDF document). The collection of foreign birds and study skins comprises over 1200 specimens representing almost 600 different species from 122 families. 
• Birmingham Ornithology Collections - Part 6 The RW Chase Collection of Eggs (PDF document).

For more information about the research detailed on this page contact Phil Watson, Collections Manager.