Greater London

Chigwell School Archives

This year, Chigwell School celebrated the 100-year anniversary of its Chapel in a celebration with a special dedication to the Organ by the Bishop of Barking. Each visitor received a booklet with an illustrated history of the chapel modelled on the original 1924-5 programmes. The day also featured an exhibition of material from the archive.

Taken from the rear of a chapel, a number of people are seated in wooden pews and looking towards the altar. A choir is seated at the very front of the chapel, behind four members of the clergy

Image credit: Chigwell School

City of Westminster Archives Centre (COWAC) and Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC)

COWAC and RBKC collaborated on Moving Away Your Dust, a NHLF funded project exploring the impact of waste on marginalised people in Central London both in the past and present. Working with Year 6 pupils, outputs from the first stage of the project included two documentary films and two animations, as well as a musical show.

Black and white image of 14 men posing for a photo, some holding brooms. There is a pile of rubbish in front of them and, behind them, Westminster Abbey, with a crowd gathered outside.

Image credit: Westminster City Archives, catalogue reference WCC:Acc0152/5/1/28

Croydon Archives

Since securing National Lottery Heritage funding, Croydon Archives has launched its Dynamic Collections project. This involved collecting Croydon’s London Borough of Culture archive, procuring a digital preservation system and inviting ten local ‘Young Archivists’ from Global Majority and migrant backgrounds to participate in a workshop programme and co-create public engagement outputs.

A small group of adults and children sitting or kneeling in a room with white walls and a black floor. On the floor are several pieces of different coloured paper and card, which the group are engaging with

Image credit: Croydon Archives

Lambeth Archives

After 133 years at the Minet Library, Lambeth Archives moved its historic collection of documents, photographs, books and maps to a new purpose-built archive facility in Brixton Hill. This new site has been open to the public since February 2024.

View of a reading room - the right-hand wall and the far wall are full of books on bookshelves, while the middle of the room has two tables with room enough for four orange chairs at each

Image credit: Sam Mellish

London Metropolitan University

In Winter 2024, the Special Collections team at London Metropolitan University introduced a series of online talks ‘in conversation with‘ their community partners, academic colleagues  and collection depositors. These informal talks explored different themes and experiences had by their speakers like collecting, preserving and using archives to support community engagement and creative practice in higher education.

Four people standing in the corner of a room, posing for a photo. They are all wearing black. Behind them are a selection of large green bound documents on one wall, and a series of cardboard archive boxes on the other wall

Image credit: London Metropolitan University

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Archives

The IET celebrated the centenary of The Electrical Association for Women by digitising a complete set of journals, making it a more accessible social history resource. IET also collaborated with the University of Leeds to promote the collections and organised an external event to discuss women’s roles in STEAM.

A selection of leaflets and pamphlets about electricity, with titles such as 'Connections for standard plugs', 'The Electrical Age', 'Electric Cooking Craft', 'Electricity for everyday living', and 'Which fuse?'

Image credit: IET Archives EAW collection reference NAEST 093

The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) Archives

RBKC, along with partners West London Queer Project and Chelsea Theatre, hosted a free event to celebrate the borough’s LGBTQI+ Histories through an archive exhibition. The evening also included memory sharing, a documentary screening of Gateways Grind followed by a Q&A, and a performance by Queer Tango London. Internally, the Council’s Proud Network helped co-curate the exhibition using RBKC Archive material from the Earl’s Court LGBTQ+ Collection.

A small group of people dancing in pairs in a low-lit room.

Image credit: RBKC Archives & Local Studies

Transport for London (TFL) Archive

TFL Corporate Archives collaborated with Google Arts and Culture to digitise over 160 years’ worth of TFL history and host it on an accessible online platform. The archives team spent over 1200 hours collecting content for this project, which can be explored on A Journey Through Time. See their online webinar and tour of the platform to learn more.

Black and white image displaying a number of men in contemporary dress - top hats, bowler hats, suits and long coats, most of them with facial hair - standing in front of a train carriage. A number of spectators are behind the carriage, on a hill. The title of the image is 'Opening of Chesham Branch Line.'

Image credit: TfL Corporate Archives, catalogue reference LT001172_059

Victoria and Albert (V&A)

The V&A launched a new display this Autumn marking the centenary of the Theatre and Performance Collections founded by theatre collecting pioneer, Gabrielle Enthoven. Entitled Enthoven Unboxed: 100 Years of Collecting Performance, and inspired by her nickname the “theatrical encyclopaedia”, the display chronicles an A-Z of theatrical themes drawing on Enthoven’s original collection and new acquisitions. A long-lost portrait of her painted by suffragette artist Ethel Wright is also included.

Oil painting of a woman standing, wearing a black wide-brimmed hat and a long black coat. She is resting her right hand on the frame of a piano. The frame of the paining is gold in colour, with intricate carved detailing

Image credit: Victoria and Albert Museum, London, S.69-2022

Royal Albert Hall Archives

Royal Albert Hall Archives moved into their first purpose-built storage and reading room, housed within the Grade 1 listed Hall. Following issues with flooding, their collection of programmes, posters, building models and more have been relocated to a room that is secure, fire-proof and climate controlled. Tours of the archives will be available for the first time later this year.

A white-painted corridor that has 'Welcome to the archive' on the right-hand wall, in large illuminated letters. Some letterpress prints are on the left-hand wall, such as 'Choir only this way [with a hand pointing to the left]'

Image credit: Royal Albert Hall/Andy Paradise