Archive collections

Archives document our collective past, tell stories and inform our understanding of the world. Well-organised and accessible archives are essential for research, education, accountability and an informed public. It’s through the archives that we have records of how Sainsbury’s packaging changed over the decades, or the minutest details of how trade was conducted via London’s docks.

At London Museum, we hold three archive collections:

• London Museum Business Archive
• Port and River Archive
• Sainsbury Archive

The London Museum Business Archive consists of the institutional records that document the history of London Museum and London Museum Docklands, including our predecessor organisations – Guildhall Museum (founded in 1826), London Museum (founded in 1911), and Museum of London (founded in 1976).

The type of records held include:

• departmental records
• exhibition and curatorial records
• object accession files
• governance records
• staff papers
• press and marketing materials
• photographs of the galleries and events
• correspondence

The archive’s paper holdings currently span approximately 73 cubic metres of material and approximately 5 TB of born-digital material.

The Port and River Archive comprises several collections related to the Port of London and the River Thames, with a strong focus on the Docklands area. Of these, the Port of London Authority Archive is the largest in terms of volume, and includes:

• at least 5,000 boxes of administration records and correspondence
• around 1,250 minute books
• more than 50,000 plans and engineering drawings
• around 500 maps
• more than 40,000 historic photographs
• around 5,000 paintings, drawings and prints (framed and unframed)
• films and videos
• publications, eg, the PLA Monthly magazine, annual reports and accounts from 1909 onwards

A number of smaller collections are also held within the Port and River Archive, including:

• British Ports Association
• Docklands Forum
• Joint Docklands Action Group
• Scruttons PLC collection
• Thames Rice Milling Co.
• Thames Stevedoring Co.

We are still cataloguing the collections within the Port and River Archive, so bear with us as there is no publicly available catalogue. Our Collections Access and Enquiries page has more information on researching family history in the archive.

Step into the aisles of retail history with the Sainsbury Archive, one of the UK’s largest supermarkets. It’s a collection of documents, objects, photographs and film that charts the history of Sainsbury’s from its foundation in Drury Lane in 1869. The archive also provides a unique record of how the retail industry has transformed since the Victorian era, and the impact of these changes on society.

The archive is a rich source of specialist and general research on a variety of topics, including:

• business and retail history
• shopping and eating habits
• architecture and urban development
• advertising, packaging and product design
• local and family history

Want to know more? You can browse the Sainsbury Archive website and online catalogue to access thousands of objects that tell the story of Sainsbury’s and shopping across 150 years.

Our Collections enquiries page has further information on accessing our collections.