| Description | Minutes of Faculty of Commerce and Social Science Board and of Faculty of Commerce and Social Science committees which reported to the Faculty of Commerce and Social Science Board; index books and attendance book of Faculty of Commerce and Social Science Board; records of the Deans of the Faculty of Commerce and Social Science, largely consisting of correspondence; and Faculty of Commerce and Social Science publications consisting of incomplete series of Discussion Papers, Occasional Papers, National Economic Planning Research Papers, and other publications including reports of and relating to the Faculty Research Board, information booklets for student applicants to courses in the Faculty, reprints of papers on the foundation of the Faculty of Commerce and paper on Social Study courses.
Records of the Faculty of Commerce and Social Science Board cover the entire period that the Faculty existed 1902-1998. Records of Faculty of Commerce and Social Science committees mostly date from the period from the 1950s to the 1990s with the exception of minutes of committees administering Social Study programmes which date from 1912 to 1947. Records of the Deans of the Faculty of Commerce and Social Science cover the period 1907-1920, 1923-1939, 1943-1945, 1951-1962, and 1970. The Faculty Discussion Papers, Occasional Papers, and National Economic Planning Research Papers together cover the period 1959 to 1988, the information booklets cover the period 1902 to 1946, the reprints of papers on the foundation of the Faculty of Commerce are dated 1901-1906, the paper on Social Study courses is dated 1912, and the reports of and relating to the Faculty Research Board date from 1951 to 1954
Minutes of the Faculty of Commerce and Social Science Board, and of the Faculty committees, are a significant source for the study of the development of the Faculty and its academic departments over the course of the twentieth century. These can be supplemented for the earlier twentieth century, by the Dean's records, particularly the letterbooks of William Ashley as first Dean, but also the surviving correspondence of later Deans up to the 1950s for specific Faculty business. The Discussion and Occasional papers provide a good record of the research output of the Faculty during the 1960s and 1970s in particular |
| Administrative History | The University of Birmingham was divided into Faculties from its foundation in 1900 and the University Charter included provision for a Faculty of Commerce along with those of Arts, Science and Medicine which had existed in the institution's predecessor, Mason Science College. The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce had suggested that the new University might include commercial education in 1898, and a faculty of commercial education was supported by Joseph Chamberlain. An Advisory Committee on Commercial Education, chaired by Arthur Chamberlain, drew up a series of proposed courses which were designed to meet specific professional needs. However, there was little financial support from local business, and it was only possible to establish a Faculty of Commerce following a gift of £50,000 given by Lord Strathcona, the Scottish born Canadian High Commissioner. William Ashley was appointed to the new Chair of Commerce in 1901 and was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Commerce when it opened in October 1902 with six students. Ashley visited Germany to look at higher commercial education there, and developed a curriculum which included modern languages, history, accounting, a choice of subjects in applied science and business technique, and a series of commerce courses. Teaching in teaching in languages, History and Logic was undertaken by staff in the Faculty of Arts. Commerce students taking applied science courses were taught by staff in the Faculty of Science.
The Faculty structure was set out in the University Statutes and Ordinances. The Dean of the Faculty of Commerce was appointed by members of the Faculty, for three years. The Dean was a member of the Senate and chaired the Faculty Board. Other members of the Faculty and Faculty Board were the Vice-Chancellor and Principal; the Vice-Principal and later Pro-Vice-Chancellors; the Deputy Dean or Executive Dean when that post was established; the University Librarian; all Professors and all those holding posts of professorial status in the Faculty; all non-professorial Heads of Schools and Departments in the Faculty; representative staff members; representative student members; and attached members
Faculty Boards were responsible under the Senate for organising, regulating and directing the academic work within the Faculty in teaching, examining and research. They reported to Senate but also to the Committee of Principals and Deans. The Faculty Boards had powers to make recommendations concerning programmes of study within the Faculty; to make recommendations on the appointment of External Examiners in the Faculty; to make recommendations for the necessary Ordinances and Regulations and to make special Regulations and Rules concerning Degrees, Diplomas, Prizes, examinations and assessment and concerning the results and other matters pertaining to the Faculty; to transact any other academic business pertaining to the Faculty; and to take into consideration any matter bearing upon the work and development of the Faculty
Faculty Boards could delegate business to committees appointed to report to the Faculty Board, and a large number of committees were set up to deal with specific Faculty of Commerce and Social Science business, records of many of which have survived.
The Faculty of Commerce was very small when William Ashley was appointed Dean in 1902, though Laurence Dicksee was appointed to the first UK Chair in Accounting in 1902, established after consultation with a committee of the Birmingham and Midland Society of Chartered Accountants. A lectureship in Commerce and Public Finance was established in 1903 and Adam Willis Kirkaldy was appointed. His post was made the first UK Chair in Finance in 1906. This was a personal Chair and lapsed when he left the University in 1919 but it was revived as the Mitsui Chair in Finance in 1923 following a gift from the Japanese Mitsui family, some of whom had been students at Birmingham, and J. G. Smith was appointed to the post. A lectureship in Commercial Law was established in 1904 and Frank Tillyard was appointed. This post was made a Chair in 1914. A Commerce Advisory Board was set up in 1906, initially for a period of two years to promote the objects of the Faculty, but it continued to meet until the 1930s. Its remit was to make the Faculty's work better known in the commercial world and to put the Faculty in touch with contacts in business. It consisted of the Professors in the Faculty and of Birmingham and Midland business leaders. No records of this Board survive. It was discontinued in the 1930s though it remained listed in University Calendars until the 1938-1939 academic session.
The Bachelor of Commerce degree attracted international students from the beginning of the Faculty, particularly students from Egypt and from China and Japan, as well as some from mainland Europe. Ashley and other staff tried to find jobs for graduates and students of the Faculty who lacked family connections in industry and commerce. Although the Bachelor of Commerce degree was open to women students on the same terms as to men, it was not until 1922 that the first woman graduated with a Commerce degree. Social studied courses began in 1905 and developed into a Diploma in 1908 and a Higher Diploma in 1910. Most students on these courses were women training for practical social work and administrative organisation. A Commerce Graduates Diploma was introduced in 1912 after discussion by the Advisory Board and the Faculty
The Faculty's first accommodation was in rooms at the Edmund Street site. It moved to Edgbaston in 1920 and occupied rooms in one of the domes in the Aston Webb complex, known as the 'Commerce dome'. There was a Commerce library and a Commerce Society was formed by students in 1906-1907 and all students and staff were expected to attend the 'commercial seminar' or Commerce Conference on Saturday mornings from 1902 to the late 1950s. Papers were presented by students and were followed by discussion by staff and students. The Commerce Society also organised visits to local businesses and factories. Modern languages, History, Philosophy, Logic, Psychology and Geography continued to be taught by Faculty of Arts staff at Edmund Street until the Faculty of Arts moved to Edgbaston in 1960. An additional floor was inserted in the 'Commerce Dome' and additional accommodation was provided for the Faculty in the 'terrace huts' above the playing fields and in Aston Webb A block above the drawing office.
Ashley retired in 1923 and was replaced as Dean by Frank Tillyard. He also retired in 1926 and J. G. Smith became Dean. On Smith's retirement in 1947 the Chair in Finance became the Chair in Economics and Gilbert Walker was appointed. He also served as Dean. There were also new Chairs in Accounting and Economic History. In 1950, Social Science was added to the Faculty name, and in 1959 the Commerce Conference became the Conference of the Faculty of Commerce and Social Science. Faculty registries were introduced in the 1950s to support academics in running Faculties, though these were later abolished. The post of Sub-Dean was established to share some of the increasing responsibility of the Dean for running the Faculty and its budget. Louisa Lacey was appointed as Faculty Clerk in 1952 and was later Assistant Registrar in the Faculty Registry
New buildings were eventually provided for the Faculty of Commerce and Social Science and the Ashley and Strathcona buildings opened in 1963. Space for the growing Faculty was also found at Winterbourne, for the newly established Institute of Local Government Studies and the West Midlands Social and Political Research Unit. Other departments in the Faculty moved into the Muirhead Tower when it was completed in 1969. The J. G. Smith building was completed in 1978 and was used by the Institute of Local Government Studies and the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies which had previously used Selly Wick House.
The requirement to study a modern language was dropped for B.Com students in 1957 but BCom and BSocSc degrees could be taken in combination with modern languages. A Social Study degree was introduced in 1945 and the two year Diploma was renamed a Certificate. The Social Study Department was renamed Social Administration in 1968-1969 and Social Policy and Social Work in 1988-1989. The Centre for Russian and East European Studies was established in 1963, and there were also schools and research units including International Studies, Graduate Centre for Management Studies, Development Administration, later International Development, and Health Services Management Centre. The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies became part of the Faculty of Commerce and Social Science in 1988, absorbed into a new unit called the Department of Cultural Studies.
The Faculty structure was abolished at the end of the 1997-1998 academic session and the academic Schools and Departments were given responsibility for their own activities. In 2009 the University was re-organised into five academic Colleges, each of which consisted of a number of Schools and Departments |
| Custodial History | Faculty of Commerce and Social Science records were transferred to Special Collections in 1989-1990 as part of a project to gather and sort the university's institutional archives, with subsequent transfers of later records. Some records had already been transferred to Special Collections before this date, including letterbooks of the Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, and most of the Faculty of Commerce and Social Science publications |