Printed Ephemera
Our printed ephemera collection offer a distinctive interpretation of London’s social and cultural history through 150,000 ‘throw-away’ items
Blogs-And-Stories

Six things you didn’t know about executions in London
London’s courts condemned more people to die than the rest of England, and six facts you may not know

The Great Plague of 1665
An estimated 100,000 people died in London’s last major plague epidemic

How Charles Booth mapped London poverty
And showed the complexity of social class in the late 19th century

Why are you touching that object without gloves?
All you need to know about glove-wearing while handling objects at London Museum

‘We Are What We Eat’: An exploration of food in prison
Members of the Prison Art Group at HMP Pentonville present an honest account of prison food and call for change

Embroidered memories: The WWI silk postcard industry
How these hand-embroidered WWI silk postcards are beautiful examples of sentimentality and wartime industry

Suffragettes’ secret prison diaries: History on toilet paper
Resourceful and heroic – how incarcerated Suffragettes used toilet paper

John Hargrave: Leader of the Kibbo Kift
Camp out, help others, work for world peace: Hargrave’s youth movement aimed for a better society

Cats in the London collection: A feline history
We delve into our collections to find historical evidence of cats living in London

Jumbo the Elephant
How a 19th-century animal celebrity gave us a massive new word

London’s public executions
Hung, drawn and quartered. Beheaded, boiled or burned

Calling all ravers! Memories of London’s rave nights
Ready to relive the beat? Two Londoners take a nostalgic trip down 1990s rave culture

Hidden stories behind everyday tickets
The power of ephemera. How discarded tickets are testament to London's history

London’s dark public execution history in 5 objects
A look at 700 years of public executions in London through five objects

Ghosts & ghouls of London’s Docklands
Two stories of hauntings and horror in 19th-century London

Marvellous moustaches & brilliant beards from the London Collection
Need ideas for your Movember look?

The origins of Notting Hill Carnival
London’s biggest street festival is a celebration of Caribbean culture and Black identity

The Blitz in London: A New Year's Eve letter
An informal, chatty letter from a fireman to his wife, describing the damage from the bombing during Christmas