Birmingham Museum Thread

Birmingham has some wonderful museums and Galleries. Some publicly owned and some privately. From the BMAG to the Barber Institute. Have you visited any of Birmingham's museums of late. We would love to hear about your experience.

Dollman Street Stores is a little known repository used by Birmingham museums department to store exhibits they do not have room to exhibit. I think when they moved the Science Museum from Newhall St to the Think Tank in Curzon st that it was found to be too small to hold all the exhibits.

So many of the exhibits that were donated by the people and various companies of Birmingham rarely get to see the light of day. They do have special days when the public are allowed in to view but these are very few.

I have been to a couple of the open days and most of the exhibits are stored and stacked in a way that it is only possible to see a fraction of what is held there.

Here is a few photos of some of the exhibits that you can see.

Phil

Really good pics..love the old fire engine.

Denise

I didn't photograph a fraction of what is on display, and only about 20% of what they have is on display. You can see from the dust on some of the exhibits that they are not getting the care that they should.

Phil

I could give them Rovers the care they deserve, especially the SD1. I would never buy a new car but if SD1s went back into production I would be at the front of the queue.

VM

I had a SD1 about 1980, to be honest I didn't rate them. I got rid of it after about 12 months. Mind you I didn't hang on to any car very long in those days.

Phil

It was ideal for me, big, heavy, powerful and could carry as much as an escort van, all in total comfort..

VM

I remember that one of the lads that worked for us had an older one much later than I had mine. He used to carry two barrows and all his tools in the boot.

Phil

For those who have never visited The Collection Centre, I cannot advise you strongly enough to get along there on the next open day. Which I believe is the 22nd of August next or check here for other dates,

http://www.bmag.org.uk/events

Just put museum collection centre in the box and click search

It is a good day out, you will find it very interesting and it may be your last chance to see some of these exhibits as I think as soon as interest dies down they will start to dispose of them to other museums. After all it was only public outcry that made them have these open days in the first place. Left to their own devices Birmingham Council would rather these items be locked away never to be seen.

Phil

I hope to be there with my camera. It's a Sunday so no excuses.

Three years on and access to the collection is still possible.

http://www.bmag.org.uk/Museum-collections-centre

25 Dollman Street, Birmingham B7 4RQ
Tel: +44 (0)121 303 0190
Opening Times:
Open afternoons on the last Friday of every month. 1.30pm - 3.30pm. These must be booked in advance. Call 0121 675 2579.
Guided tours of the Museum Collections Centre are available for groups. Call 0121 303 2836.