Stories from our collections Our librarians tell local and national stories connected to gems in our collections, from rare archive books to online databases. The Hawthorn House Mystery: persistence pays off when researching primary sources Black theatre makers working in twentieth-century Britain What links Velázquez’s ‘The Toilet of Venus’, Just Stop Oil, women’s suffrage and disability? Birmingham's first Pride, 1997: from banned newspapers to thriving festival Birmingham Riots of 1791: anti-revolutionary violence erupts on the city's streets The Mary Ashford case: the local murder trial from 1818 which changed the nation's law