Our Collections
There are over 80,000 items in our collections including buildings, cars, sad irons, trolley buses, photographs, shops, locks, canal boats,catalogues and glass!
This was the World's first industrial landscape
Historically, the Black Country played a vital role in the nation’s industrial history. This was the world’s first industrial landscape and one of the most intensely industrialised regions of the UK.
The Museum preserves a section of the Black Country’s industrial landscape, including two mine shafts, limekilns and a canal arm. The Museum has relocated buildings into our canalside village, which have been drawn from across the many small towns of the region.
Each house, shop and workshop has been filled with collections, from sad irons to nails, that would have been seen in situ from the 1800s to 1940s.
In total, there are approximately 80,000 items in the collections for you to discover.
This page is currently under construction and will be updated soon. In the meantime, we’re featuring a selection of iconic items from our collection.
Cast iron houses
Cast iron houses built in Dudley in 1925. The houses are constructed from 600 panels of cast iron, bolted together and originally lined with asbestos. They were an experiment in using iron to pre-fabricate buildings, but the idea was too costly and only 4 were ever made.
Year: 1925
Ref: PRV49
Area: Dudley
Theme: Historic Buildings
Penfold pillar box
Pillar box manufactured by Cochrane, Grove & Co. of Dudley.
Ref: 1969-022-001-2
Area: Dudley
Theme: Metal Working Industry
Trolleybus 433
Wolverhampton Corporation trolleybus 433, with a Wolverhampton manufactured Sunbeam W4 chassis. Supplied to the Corporation in 1946.
Find out more about our trolley bus collection
Year: 1946
Ref: 1975-012-001-9
Area: Wolverhampton
Theme: Transport
Charcoal iron
Charcoal iron manufactured by Archibald Kenrick & Sons, West Bromwich. The inside is hollow so that it can be filled with smouldering coals, keeping it hot whilst ironing.
Ref: 1990-134-154
Area: West Bromwich
Theme: Metal Working Industry
Palethorpe's box
Box for ‘Royal Cambridge’ sausages, manufactured by Palethorpes Limited of Tipton.
Ref: _DSC0015-2
Area: Tipton
Theme: Other Industries
“The Black Country, black by day and red by night, cannot be matched for vast and varied production, by any other space of equal radius on the surface of the globe.”
Elihu Burritt, American Consul to Birmingham, 1868
Latest Blogs
Five ways Black Country folk spent their leisure time
In this week’s blog we’re taking a relaxing break and looking at leisure time in the past for Black Country Folk. Researcher Clare Weston explores the types of holidays experienced in the past.
“Don’t Pay!” The 1913 Wolverhampton Rent Strike
In 1913 Wolverhampton residents had had enough of poor housing conditions and high rents set by profiteering landlords. With help from reformers they formed the “Tenants Defence League” and went on strike. Resarcher Simon Briercliffe explores this fraught story.
Desi Pubs in the Black Country
As part of South Asian heritage month, in this week’s blog we explore the history of Desi Pubs and their important place in the Black Country’s social story.
Five facts about the NHS in 1961
Dr Jenny Gilbert explores five fascinating facts about Britain’s National Health Service in 1961, a key year in the organisation’s history.
Epidemic – Diseases that struck the Black Country
From cholera to diphtheria, epidemics are a tragic feature throughout Black Country history. In our latest blog researcher Nadia Awal explores how these deadly diseases affected local towns, and how health innovations & vaccines helped us to overcome them.
Wednesbury, Woolf and the ‘most charming love letter in literature’
Dr Jenny Gilbert explores the fascinating story of Mary Garman and her intricate relationship with some of the most influential writers of the early 20th century.