The‘ History of Birmingham’ has represented modernity in British urban society through the‘ municipal culture’ and‘ symphony orchestra’ of public institutions, which originated from the‘ civic gospel’, a series of the urban improvements in the second half of the nineteenth century. Publications of the History of Birmingham, vols. 1 and 2（1952）, and 3（1974）, were a ‘civic and intellectual enterprise’ by the local municipal borough corporation to celebrate the centenary of the incorporation of Birmingham in 1838 as well as to establish the historiography of municipal culture in Birmingham in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This paper reconsiders the origins, process, and context of the History of Birmingham, based on the primary sources of the local municipal borough corporation and contemporary publications. First, it reveals that the terminology of the‘ civic gospel’ in Birmingham, as a‘ best-governed city’ in the later nineteenth century, originated from the History of Birmingham. Second, the close relationship between the History of Birmingham and the History of the Corporation of Birmingham, 6 vols.（1878- 1957）, are indicated. Third, members and activities of the committee of the History of Birmingham in the local municipal borough corporation are examined, clarifying the corporation objects of the History of Birmingham in contexts such as World War II, the structure of the local municipal borough corporation, and the economic and social changes in Birmingham. The History of Birmingham was a project to record and refer to the best governed city by the urban elite in Birmingham. Thus, this paper illustrates the interactions between publications of urban history and urban governance since the later nineteenth century.

（特集：現代都市の形成とガバナンス： 英・独・日の比較史 = Special Issue: The Formation of Contemporary Cities and Governance: Comparative History of United Kingdom, Germany and Japan）

一橋大学大学院経済学研究科

2016-07-31

Japanese(jpn)

departmental bulletin paper

VoR

10.15057/28072

AA12162457

一橋経済学

10

1

7

34

10巻1号 (2016.7)

https://hdl.handle.net/10086/28072