Archives held at LMA.
London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) is the largest local
authority record office in the United Kingdom. There are 72KM of
archives, modern records, plans, audio-visual and printed material
in our strong-rooms - an enormous amount of information about the
capital and its people. This material dates from 1067 to 2006 and
is part of the History of London Collection, which is held
jointly at Guildhall Library and LMA within the City of London's
Libraries, Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery Department. The
collection is Designated as one of national and international
importance by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
(MLA).
Please consult the Access to Archives website for more details on
individual collections: the majority of LMA's collections are
listed here.
You may also be able to find out more about some of our specific
collections by attending one of the many talks and workshops held
at LMA. Visit our
What's going on section to
find out more about the latest events.
The government of London
The archive of the City of London is one of the oldest, most
complete and wide ranging civic archives in the world. Dating from
1067, with a Charter of William I, the collection traces the
history of the City through a thousand years of governing the
square mile, encompassing periods of civil war and national unrest,
the Great Fire of London, and the growth of metropolitan London.
The City’s unique role in national life with its traditional
ceremonial role and emergence in the twentieth century as a leading
local authority is documented here.
The history of metropolitan London can be traced through the
archive of the Middlesex Sessions of the Peace, both administrative
and judicial, from the sixteenth century. LMA also has records for
the various bodies set up in the nineteenth century to run the
capital - the Metropolitan Water Board, the Metropolitan Buildings
Office, the School Board for London and the Metropolitan Asylums
Board. Our 100,000 volume library began life over 100 years ago
with the Metropolitan Board of Works.
In 1889 the County Councils of London and Middlesex were
established and we hold the records of these councils from 1889 to
1965. The County of London was formed from the metropolitan areas
of the ancient counties of Middlesex, Kent and Surrey ('Central
London').
In 1965 the London County Council and the
Middlesex County Council were abolished and the Greater London
Council was formed, taking in further areas of Kent and Surrey, as
well as parts of Essex. LMA has official records covering the much
larger area of Greater London from 1965 to 1986, including records
of the Inner London Education Authority. Information on the Greater
London area can also be found with the London Borough local archive
services.
Click here for a map which shows these different local government
areas .
These archives give evidence of the City of London and the
London wide governments ability to influence the framing of
national legislation and initiatives as well as providing a matrix
for local government in the rest of the UK.
Apart from these official records of councils and their
predecessors, there is an extraordinary range of other archives
held at LMA. The following areas are particularly significant:
- The built environment
Covering both London landmarks such as Tower Bridge, Guildhall,
County Hall and the South Bank complex, and the full range of other
building types from pigeon lofts to tower blocks. The redevelopment
of London following the Great Fire, nineteenth century expansion
and change and twentieth century war damage and renewal is
illustrated.
- The care of the sick, dispossessed and
destitute
From the Elizabethan parish through to nineteenth and twentieth
century Boards of Guardians, local authorities, charities and
associations. The social history of child care, a wide span of
medical treatments and care, including very significant information
on mental health care and general nursing. LMA has archives from
over 130 hospitals including Guy's and Saint Thomas' and major
charities such as the Foundling Hospital.
- Education
An account of educational provision from the medieval period
leading to the development of universal education in the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries. London authorities such as the School
Board for London, the LCC and ILEA led the national agenda and
debate.
- Highways and transportation
London as the centre of a burgeoning highway infrastructure from
the late middle ages to the construction of arterial roads in the
twentieth century. Radical transport policies include the 1980s
Livingstone administration in the GLC.
- Justice
Criminal justice is exceptionally well documented through sources
on courts such as Middlesex Sessions, the country’s first police
force (in the City of London) and prisons.
- Migration, settlement and activities of new
communities
The Jewish community in the UK and its influence world wide is very
well represented here. Other sources within the Collection have
been successfully analysed for evidence of Black and Asian, Gay and
Lesbian presence; sources from within these communities are now
beginning to be added. In 2005 the Eric and Jessica Huntley
collections were a significant addition from the Caribbean
community and oral history tapes were received from the Chinese
community
- Planning, public health and engineering
Civil engineering from the commissions of sewers to Thames bridges;
from Joseph Bazelgette's Thames Embankment to the Thames
Barrier.
- Religious life
Virtually all major denominations of Christianity and Judaism as
practised in London are represented here together with the work of
ecclesiastical courts. The archives of over 800 Church of England
parishes in greater London are at LMA - family historians can
search the London Generations database for more information.
- Social activities, customs and trends
Food and drink (including business archives on the two British
staples of beer and tea); many forms of entertainment and
recreation can be examined from markets, licensed places of public
entertainment to gentlemens clubs such as Brooks's and the Oriental
Club.
- Social, philanthropic and campaigning
activities
Campaigning and popular agitation on a range of issues at
organisational and individual levels including the Gordon Riots,
the furore around the Great Reform Act and female suffrage,
anti-apartheid protest, and support of better care for children and
the vulnerable.
Maps, plans, prints and
photographs - we have extensive holdings of printed maps of
London from the sixteenth century, thematic maps including bomb
damage, plans and drawings in the Building Act case file series and
other collections, and over 250,000 prints, watercolours, etchings
and photographs showing the changing face of London over the last
300 years.
If you want to
know what other public archives and museums have photograph
collections in London, please visit http://www.photolondon.org.uk/. This is a
gateway website to public photograph collections in the London
area, and was joint-founded by LMA, with the National Monuments
Record, The Museum of London, City of Westminster Archive Centre
and the Guildhall Library.
(Note that the starting dates can change as we
acquire more records by deposit, purchase or gift).
The above is only a brief sample of LMA's vast
collections, so for detailed information
contact our enquiry team or speak to a member of staff in the
public rooms.
More detailed information on some of the collections can also be
found by downloading some of our
information leaflets.