Key resources

Birmingham Images

Visit the Library of Birmingham's Birmingham Images website which gives access to images from the now superseded sites of Digital Handsworth, Digital Ladywood and Digital Balsall Heath.

CalmView

Visit the Birmingham Archives and Heritage online catalogue.

The collection reference for the WPS is MS 2724 and you can search the collection from the Advanced Search option, using MS 2724* in the Ref No field and then using the any text field for a keyword. Some entries have thumbnails of images to view at item level.

If you would like to view a photograph in person, make a note of the finding number of the image you are interested in and contact the Wolfson Centre at archives.appointments@birmingham.gov.uk to make an appointment. Some of the images are available to view on microfiche and CD.

WPS card index

If you have not been able to locate an image online, you can look through our card index which is arranged by subject, place and name. An appointment is not required to do this. Indexes can be consulted during the opening hours of the Heritage Research Area on Level 4. Check our opening hours.

Much of the collection has been re-catalogued and not all of the index cards have been updated, therefore some images may not be accessible under the reference number which appears on the index card. Staff will do their best to locate the image for you; however this may not always be possible and we will tell you if this applies.

Surrogate copies of some images from the collection are available to view on CD and microfiche format. We can advise when this is the case.

Images with the references WK/B11/ 1 – 2478, 4395 – 7484, 7640 – 8049 and 8501 – 9477 are accessible on CD along with images from various suburbs. The Improvement Scheme photographs are also available to view on CD.

Images with the references WK/B11/2479 – 4394 are accessible to view on microfiche.

For all other images, the original will be retrieved but be aware some items may be in too poor a condition to serve.