Imperial War Museum Archives
- Advice on accessing these materials
- Web
- Address
- Lambeth Road, London, SE1 6HZ, England
- Opening Hours
- Monday-Thursday 10.00–13.00, 14.00-17.00 / You can book a morning or afternoon session, or both. / For more information please see: http://www.iwm.org.uk/research/research-facilities
- Access Information
- The collections are public records and researchers may search some of the records online or book an appointment at the IWM London Research Room to consult these records.
- Archival and Other Holdings
IWM holds almost 20,000 individual collections of important private papers, principally comprising unpublished diaries, letters and memoirs written primarily by British and Commonwealth servicemen since 1914 and by civilians during the two world wars. We also hold documents from victims and survivors of the Holocaust.
Foreign and Related Documents
We also look after a large collection of foreign documents, including the official British records of the major war crimes trials conducted at Nuremberg and Tokyo, together with related documents from the Second World War which mainly concern the German and Japanese war efforts.
The museum archive manages IWM’s own administrative records, which date back to its foundation in 1917.
IWM's records cover all aspects of the work of IWM, including:
The development of IWM's Collections
The planning and design of exhibitions
The history of the IWM London's building at Lambeth Road
The acquisition of IWM’s four branches: IWM North, Churchill War Rooms, IWM Duxford and HMS Belfast
Press, publicity and publications, including past guidebooks
General policy, operation and activities