Birmingham was not on the list of places to see because of its history or its amazing sites (although I'm sure those are lovely...) Birmingham was on the list because of the huge Oswald Mosley depository. There are files from his wife (Diana Mitford) and his son, Nicholas, as well as a huge amount of BUF newspapers. No wanting to spend to much money or travel too far, I booked a room on Air BnB about ten minutes away from the University. I found the flat with no problem and discovered that it would just be me and one of the flatmates. She was very nice and showed me around. The house was great with a wonderful garden that was to be my hangout for the next three days.
As I still had half a day free, I went straight back to the University to get started. The Cadbury Research Center was much smaller than the library, obviously, but the people there could not have been kinder or more helpful. The system was simple: they gave you the catalogue of what you wanted to look at, you wrote down the manuscript number on a little pink slip (I would see these in my dreams I used so many!) and within ten minutes, they'd deliver a box to you and you would search through it, taking notes and pictures. There were a lot of boxes to go through but on the plus side, there was also a lot of Mitford stuff in the Diana Mosley boxes. The room was quiet and other than another American professor with some awesome sweaters, and a Japanese student, the research center was mostly empty. It was a gorgeous day Monday and Tuesday and I would pop upstaeirs to the Starbucks for a small coffee and lunch and on Wednesday when it was less sunny, burrowed into one of the large armchairs on my lunch break.
I got so much work done, which was good since I was there for nearly 7 hours each day. It's exhausting and I was so sore by the time the day was over. Luckily, the days were beautiful and I was able to explore the University side of Birmingham through going on runs and grocery shopping. I bought provisions to make my favorite couscous meal, which held me over for all four days, and picked up some wine and lunch provisions at the grocery store during my run the first day. After I had worked out and made dinner, I would spend each evening sitting outside in the garden (bringing back memories of our garden at Lark Hill), sipping my wine and reading 'The Hobbit." Everything just worked out so perfectly in Birmingham- I'm so grateful and learned so much through the experience.
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