Coventry and Warwickshire Collection
A reference collection of books about the Coventry and Warwickshire areas (including the West Midlands County since 1974). The collection includes books written by local authors. There is also a section of past periodicals/journals of local studies, schools and companies.

Pamphlet Collection
A large collection of booklets, articles and information about Coventry and Warwickshire that are too flimsy for the bookshelves. Some can be found using the library catalogue as above, others only by using the subject index.

Special Collections
Angela Brazil – local children's author
George Eliot
Tom Mann – labour movement pioneer
Automobile Collection – books on the automotive industry. Includes past volumes of periodicals such as Autocar, manuals and service guides to classic cars to tractors!
Cycling Collection – includes periodicals about the sport and manufacture of bicycles.

Newspapers
Past local newspapers on microfilm back to 1747.  Index available to the Coventry Evening Telegraph from 1950. Microfilm readers and reader/printer machines are available to use and can be reserved.

Newscuttings
Alfred Lowe Collection of newscuttings on microfilm. These cover the period 1859 to 1904 and are a valuable resource of information about local people, buildings, events and companies. There are also specific volumes on Coventry churches.

There is also a collection of other newscuttings of local interest in the Research Room.

Photographs
Public Access Database of local photographs available to use for searching and printing if required.

We also have an index to other photographs in the collection which have not been digitised.

Family History Resources
The General Register Office Index to Births, Deaths and Marriages of England and Wales from July 1837 to 2004 is available on microfiche.

There are 8 PCs available for family history research and these can be booked. These PCs have free access to the library edition of the family history website http://www.ancestry.co.uk/ which covers the census for the whole of the UK up to 1901, civil registration records of births, marriages and deaths and many other resources including passenger ship lists and many American records.

The Family History Society have also provided two PCs for searching the indexes to the Coventry census for the years 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1891 and 1901. Census records are also available on CD and microfiche.

The International Genealogical Index (IGI) compiled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints contains records of marriages and births prior to 1875.

Parish registers are available on microfilm for Coventry and some surrounding areas. These include records of baptisms, marriages, deaths and some banns but the periods covered vary from parish to parish. These records are also available at Warwick Country Record Office.

London Road cemetery records are available on CD from 1848 to 1900 and on microfilm after that date. There are also plans of the cemetery available to help with locating particular grave sites and photocopies can be provided.

Electoral registers are available from 1931 to the present day. Earlier registers are available on request but are kept in storage as many are in a fragile condition. We have the full registers up to 2004 and edited registers from 2005 onwards. If you require access to the full registers from 2005 onwards then you need to go to Coventry Council House.

There are also books about family history and how to undertake research as well as books on specific aspects of family history such as Irish ancestry, deciphering handwriting, identifying old photographs, occupations and wills.

Maps
We have an extensive collection of maps of the Coventry and Warwickshire area. This includes early maps of Coventry and Warwickshire, tithe maps and Board of Health plans for Coventry. Ordnance Survey maps from 1887 to present are available in a range of scales. Maps less than 50 years old are subject to copyright. Aerial photographs are also available from 1947 and 1969.

Original documents

The research room is used for consulting original documents with the following collections available:

Freeman's index and Apprentice Enrolment index
Card indexes are available for an initial search by surname. The registers are available on microfilm, the apprenticeship rolls on microfilm and on the public access PCs.

Council Minutes 1890 – present

Building plans
Plans for the building and refurbishment of properties requiring planning permission. These are indexed by street until 1986 and are available on microfiche. The records from 1986 - 1993 are a recent acquisition from Building Control and an index isn't currently available.

Dissertations
Some individuals who have written dissertations on aspects of Coventry's history have donated a copy to us and these are available for public consultation.

Roll of the Fallen
Books listing those from Coventry who were killed during the First and Second World Wars. The volume 1939 – 1945 also contains the names of those civilian casualties killed in air raids.

Original documents
A lot of the archive collections are original documents donated or deposited by private individuals, organisations or sent to us by council documents. The archives include:

• Archives of the local authority
• School, hospital and business and non-conformist church records
• Property plans submitted for local planning approval Building and architects plans, Ordnance Survey and local maps
• Cards for cancelled vehicle registrations