| Administrative History | W. G. Symons (known as Christopher) was a leading layman in the Methodist and Free Churches. He was an active member of the British Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches (WCC) and was, for example, the UK member of the WCC's Working Committee of the Department on the Laity in the 1950s. He was formerly a Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Economic and Social Studies at the University of Manchester in the 1940s but subsequently moved into industry and worked as a factory inspector. He contributed regularly as a speaker at conferences and wrote articles including one entitled 'The Laity - the Christian in his vocation' published in the Ecumenical Review, Oct 1953. He was also a member of the Christian Frontier Council |
| Custodial History | This collection was deposited with the Selly Oak Colleges Library by the Symons family in the 1980s. It was then transferred to the Orchard Learning Resources Centre which was opened in 1997 following the merger of the Selly Oak Colleges Library and the Westhill College Library. In 2000, the custodianship of all archive collections held at the Orchard Learning Resources Centre was transferred to the University of Birmingham |