The website of the
Black Country Society
Promoting interest in the past, present and future of our Black Country
Black Country Society Archives
This page and those linked to it are a framework for the presentation of the Society Archives. They are very much a work in progress and material will be added over the coming months.
Books and pamphlets
Since its inception, the Society has published almost 100 books. The Society holds individual reference copies of many all of these and copies of most of these are also available for viewing at Dudley Archive (link to catalogue above) . Many of the more recent items are available for sale in the Society on line shop.Some of the earlier items are also be available as PDFs to Society members free of charge. The Jim William Jones page contains links to free pdfs of a number of books, some audio clips, illustrations of the Black Country Ballads and a presentation of his work at a Black Country History Day.
The Blackcountryman
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The Society magazine, the Blackcountryman has been published four times a year since 1967 and contains a wealth of information on the history of the Black Country and the development of the Society. Past copies have been digitized and high quality, searchable pdfs are now available (members only - password protected). Complete hard copy sets also held in the Society Archives and in Dudley Archives.
Ephemera
For many years, the Society produced Christmas cards and calendars, which are on the process of being deposited in Dudley Archives. Images of the front of the cards, and pdfs of the calendars (which each contain multiple Black Country images) can be accessed through the buttons to the right.
In addition, in the 1960s and 1970s, the Society also produced a number of First Day covers, postcards, commemorative medallions and a goblet. Images of these can also be accessed using the buttons to the right. Images of the logos used by the Society through the decades are also given.
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More details of all these items can be found via the Society Ephemera button.
Society minutes, reports and other documents
Minutes of Annual General Meetings and of the Society committee from 1967 to 2020 have been deposited in Dudley Archives and are being catalogued. In addition a range of other material has been deposited, including branch minutes, publicity documents etc. and are again being catalogued. The buttons to the right link to a more detailed list of material and to the Dudley Archives catalogue.
Photographs and images
Over the last 50 years, the Society and its members have built up a large photographic archive. This is in the process of being collated and organised. The material that is currently available includes photographs of Black Country activities and places, and a small number of collections from individuals, including the illustrations of Jim Jones' Black Country Ballads by Tony Brockhouse
