| Description | Programmes and other publications largely sold to raise money for Carnival, the Raising and Giving, RAG event organised by the Guild of Undergraduates. This material largely consists of Carnival magazines, intended to be sold outside the University to residents of Birmingham during fund raising events in the city centre. Although Carnival was first held in 1921, no programmes survive before 1926. These publications give details of fund raising events and information about the procession route through streets in the city centre, but the majority of the content consists of humorous articles, poems, jokes, and cartoons, providing an insight into how 'student humour' and the kinds of jokes published changed during the period from the 1920s to the 1980s. Some recycling of jokes and other material is evident. The front covers of the magazines are beautifully illustrated from the 1920s to the 1950s, and from the 1950s onwards details of charities supported by Carnival are given. During the 1960s a female cover star was used and photographs of women in underwear began to be printed on the inside pages. During the 1970s cartoon drawings were used for the front cover and the content primarily comprises photographs of women in underwear, jokes, largely of a sexist nature, and some photographs of topless contestants in the Carnival event 'Grapple and Strip' or contestants in the Carnival 'Drag Queen' competition. There are also group photographs of members of the Carnival committee. Programmes from the early 1980s are jointly published with Aston University, and contain photographs of the committee from both universities. There are no holdings after the 1991 programme until the 2008-2009 programme which is very different in content, consisting of photographs of previous Carnival events and information about the current year's activities, including photographs and profiles of members of the Carnival committee.
Carnival Revue was one of the fund raising events organised by the Carnival committee together with Birmingham University Dramatic Society. It was first held in 1931, and programmes contain information about members of the committee and lists of the names of members of the cast, including some photographs. Other publications published as part of Carnival consist of guides to events produced for 1980s Carnivals, and an issue of Carnival News published in 1975 |