• Image from book
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    Traditions from Christmas Eves past

    With the most wonderful time of the year almost upon us, we thought it was time to bring The Larger Dumpy Books for Children: Holidays and Happy Days (1901) out for a read. We hope you enjoy the following extract from the book, which offers a fascinating insight into the Christmas Eves of times gone

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  • Margaret's diary 26th December 1890

    A Victorian Christmas

    Margaret Chamberlain was a prolific diarist, and it’s thanks to her diaries that we know quite a lot about her early life – especially what Christmas was like in 1890, when she was 19 years old. Margaret was at the heart of a large extended family, which included her Chamberlain and Nettlefold cousins, and at

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  • Letter from Evelyn Nettlefold, 1910

    Education in Paris

    These days, education can be an international affair. The University of Birmingham attracts around 10,000 international students from across the globe and with plenty of study exchange opportunities, students can discover a different academic environment and immerse themselves into a completely new culture. This cosmopolitan approach to learning is nothing new. After the Nettlefolds’ eldest

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  • The Larger Dumpy Books for Children: Holidays and Happy Days’

    Celebrating All Hallows’ Eve, the twentieth century way

    All Hallows’ Eve will soon be upon us and, as fate would have it, we recently stumbled upon the subject in a book from our archives. Published in 1901, the following extract from ‘The Larger Dumpy Books for Children: Holidays and Happy Days’ gives us a fascinating insight into a long-forgotten tradition, and how the

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  • Albertus font by Berthold Wolpe, 1932
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    New exhibition: ‘Totally Curious, Ever Inventive’

    This month sees the launch of a brand-new exhibition in our Art Gallery and Exhibition Room on the second floor of the house. Introducing ‘Totally Curious, Ever Inventive’, an exciting blend of fine art, design, and typography featuring the work of Berthold and Margaret Wolpe. Berthold and Margaret Wolpe Berthold and Margaret Wolpe were an

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