Library of , Archives & Collections LGBTQ+ Source List The following is a list of some of the material we hold in Archives & Collections for researching LGBTQ+ history. Please also refer to the online archives catalogue and library catalogue. Archive Collections MS 310/1339-1342, MS 466A/658: Photographs of Fred Barnes, Birmingham Music Hall Star who rose from rags to riches and then back again. Barnes who debuted at the Alexandra in Birmingham in 1906, lived an openly gay life at a time of persecution and hostility.

MS 1836: Papers concerning the Gay Community Centre and Gay Switchboard and various newsletters, 1976-1984

MS 1844: Calendars of prisoners tried at the Assizes, Birmingham, 1884-1893. Some examples: 4 August, 1885. Alfred Oswin Holmes. 18, Hairdresser. Received into custody: 24 April 1885. Accused of unlawfully assaulting one Ida Ely on 2 April, 1885. No evidence. Accused of carnally knowing one Ida Ely on 2 April, 1885 and then with her feloniously committing and perpetrating an abominable crime. Guilty. Penal Servitude for Natural Life. Accused of unlawfully assaulting one Charles Henry Ely on 2 April, 1885 and then with him feloniously committing and perpetrating an abominable crime. No evidence. Accused of unlawfully assaulting one Esther Ely on 23 April, 1885 and then with her feloniously committing and perpetrating an abominable crime. No evidence.

19 March, 1889. Arthur Cornelius Ridding. 42, Clerk. Received into custody: 4 March 1889. Accused of unlawfully committing an act of gross indecency with another male person named William Butler on 1 March, 1889. Trial: 21 March 1889. Pleaded guilty. 2 calendar months hard labour. Birmingham Prison.

29 July, 1891. Edward Verner. 51, Agent. Received into custody: 13 April 1891. Accused of unlawfully committing an act of gross indecency with another male person named Ambrose Alfred Bradbury on 12 April, 1891. Trial: 3 August 1891. Pleaded guilty. 12 calendar months hard labour. Birmingham Prison.

29 July, 1892. Benjamin Smith. 26, Labourer. Received into custody: 3 May 1892.

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Accused of feloniously, wickedly and against the order of nature carnally knowing George Perry, and then with him feloniously committing and perpetrating an abominable crime on 19 and 20 April, 1892. Trial: 1 August 1892. Found guilty of an attempt to commit an abominable crime. 4 calendar months hard labour. Birmingham Prison.

MS 2009/A/3/6: Wolverhampton Polytechnic Lesbian & Gay Society re: Model Resolutions for Trades Union Branches, Labour Party Wards etc against Clause 28 of the Local Government Bill 20/02/[1988?] MS 2255/2: Millennibrum Project, Birmingham Speaks - Oral histories recollecting everyday life and experiences of people from all ages and backgrounds across the City were recorded, focusing particularly on those whose lives may go unrecorded. A number of these record the experiences of members of the LGBTQ+ community.

MS 2324: 30 colour photographs taken by Ming de Nasty of Birmingham Pride Mass Camp Carnival, 2000 (the first gay carnival parade to progress through Birmingham city centre).

MS 2346: 14 colour photographs taken by Ravi Deepres of the ‘Fierce’ arts festival, 2000. (Various gay individuals and groups took part in this).

MS 2347: 10 colour photographs taken by Neil Forsyth of Birmingham Pride Mass Camp Carnival, 2000.

MS 2478: Papers and photographs deposited by Derek Bishton. The collection includes the following material relating to the LGBTQ+ community:

MS 2478/C/11/3: Social Services: adoption and fostering, c.1980 – 1990. File of loose papers including an article about 's policy of allowing gay couples to foster and adopt children in local authority care, and opposition to this by some councillors.

MS 2478/B/1: Pre-Sidelines and post-Sidelines projects, c.1980 – 1990. Papers in this series consist of copies of various 'alternative' Birmingham news and listings publications which Derek Bishton worked on before and after his involvement with Sidelines agency. Articles, listings and advertisements in these publications provide a wealth of information about a range of topics, including flourishing support groups in the city for gay and lesbian groups in the city

MS 2478/C/22/2: Government and administration: , c.1980 – 1990 File of loose cuttings from national and local newspapers, including 'The Guardian'; 'Birmingham Evening Mail'; and other unidentified newspapers, containing articles about discriminatory attitudes in Britain towards homosexuality during the 1980s; discussions about the content of 'Section 28' of the Local Government Act 1988 which prohibits the "promotion of homosexuality" which banned local authorities teaching in schools of the acceptability of homosexuality and made council funding for gay and lesbian organisations and equal

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opportunities programmes more uncertain; coverage of protests against 'Section 28' and the 'OutRage' campaign to force public figures to announce their homosexuality.

MS 2478/B/1/3: Birmingham Broadside, Issue 10, July 1977 includes an item on the new gay community centre at Bordesley Street in , with details about 'gay ' and 'Friends' gay help services.

MS 2559: Papers relating to Birmingham's gay community Comprising leaflets relating to sexual health in the gay community, gay pride events and other activities, c. 2004 andtwo brief accounts, 'On becoming gay' by Omari G. Hutchinson and an untitled work by poet, community activist and Mayisha board member Donald Anthony Hayden, 2005.

MS 2659: Records of the Lesbian and Gay Switchboard West Midlands, (minutes, papers, newsletters) 1970s-1990s.

MS 2788: Records of Gay Birmingham Remembered, 1961-2008. Magazines, publicity material for various LGBT organisations, newscuttings, papers re the Nightingale Club and oral history interviews with members of the LGBT community. [A limited number of interviews are available to consult – please ask staff for details]

MS 2838/1/24: Material Collected by the Birmingham Children’s Homes Project. Interview with PC 14 October 2010. As part of the interview, talks about the realisation of being gay and how this affected home life.

MS 4728: Printed LGBT material focusing on the lesbian and women's scene and material from Pride 1997, relating mostly to Birmingham, 1980s-2000s. Comprises ephemera and booklets advertising events, entertainment etc; copies of 'Outpost'; various reports. MS 4326 Records relating to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community in Birmingham 1998-2005 Policy documents and leaflets relating to the provision of information services to the LGBT community in Birmingham, 2000-2005, including 'Access and Inclusion: mapping Birmingham's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual communities', a survey undertaken by Gudrun Limbrick for Birmingham Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Forum. Leaflets etc collected at the Birmingham Pride Festival by Library staff, 1998 - 2005. These cover issues such as health, homophobia, police, social activities, library resources etc. QS/B and PS/B: Records of the Birmingham Quarter Sessions and Petty Sessions courts, 1839- These may show the arrest of individual men when homosexuality was illegal, but the language is not always clear. SF/2/1/1/6/6/2/1 (FN SF/349) Records of Central England Area Meeting, Warwickshire North Monthly Meeting Elders papers 1974 – 1993. Includes Friends Homosexual Fellowship (FHF) study pack, entitled 'A contribution to the discussion of sexuality and human relationships',

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dated 1984 for use by Preparative Meetings and in particular, elders and overseers. The FHF was started in the early 1970s and aimed to reduce the sense of isolation and loneliness felt by homosexual Friends.

Some of the records listed on the previous pages may be closed under Data Protection Legislation. Check the catalogues for further details.

Local Studies Collections

Journals and magazines

Gladrag: Newsletter, 1972 to 1976. LF 22.85. Continued as Gay Community News, May 1978 to November 1986, LF 22.85. And then as In The Pink, 1986 to 1990 and November 2018, LF 22.85.

Linchpin, Magazine of Birmingham’s CHE group (Campaign for Homosexual Equality), Vol. 3/1 to 3, 1975/1977. LF 22.85.

Midlands Zone. March 2005, 2007 to 2011. LF 22.85.

Outburst, May 1990. LF 22.85.

Outpost, February to May 1997, LF 22.85.

Newspaper cuttings

Birmingham Gay and Lesbian Identity, 1977 to 2010.

Texts

Bailey, Paul. The wavy-haired, blue-eyed adonis: Fred Barnes (1885-1938). (2001). LP78.1 BAR

Bassi, Camila. Asian Gay Counter - Hegemonic negotiation of Birmingham’s Pink Pound Territory. (2003). LF 22.85.

Birmingham City Council, Corporate Strategy for Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Trans People Equality 2003 to 2006. LF 22.85.

Birmingham City Council Equalities Division. Responding to the needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans People in Informal and Formal Education Services. (200?). LP 22.85.

Birmingham Gay Education Group. Growing Up Homosexual. Revised ed. 1975. LP 22.85.

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Birmingham Police Forum for the Gay Community. A Matter of Trust : Recommendations from the Pink Shield project. A community - led initiative to identify and address crime and safety issues. (2002). LP 22.85.

Birmingham Pride Brochure. (2000). LP 22.85.

Farrer, Peter: The life of Maurice Pollack, 1885-1918, a Birmingham Actor (2000) L78.1.

Lesbian and Gay Community Centre, Accounts of Finances, 1985 – 1986. LF 22.85.

Limbrick, Gudrun. Access & inclusion: Mapping Birmingham lesbian, gay and bisexual communities. (2000). LP 22.85.

Shopland, Norena. A practical guide to searching LGBTQIA historical records. (2020). 306.76

University of Birmingham, Systematic review of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health in the West Midlands region. (2009). LF 22.85.

West Midlands County Council Race Relations & Equal Opportunities Commission. Notes on the conference. Lesbian and Gay aspects of equal opportunities (March 1986). LP 22.85.

Wood, Gary. Out and About, Mapping LGBT Lives in Birmingham. (2011). LP 22.85.

Online

A gallery of digitised material is available on our website Connecting Histories.

A number of blog posts about some of the material in this source guide is available on our blog, the Iron Room. Click on a blog post to access the Search box and type in LGBT to see blog posts about some of our LGBTQ+ collections.

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