The Museum’s collection of archives contains private, regimental and business papers illustrating more than five centuries of British and Commonwealth military history. Highlights from the collection include a muster roll listing some of the ordinary men who served during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), a warrant to raise troops signed by King Charles I on the outbreak of the English Civil War (1642-1651), and the order that launched the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854.
The photographic collection comprises at least half a million images dating from the 1840s to the present day. It includes collections made by pioneering photographers such as John McCosh, Roger Fenton and Felice Beato. The film collection is composed mainly of official Army films and 'home movies' taken by soldiers and their families from the 1930s onwards. The sound collection includes military music recordings and approximately 650 oral history recordings of Army veterans from World War One (1914-1918) up to the present. The majority of the Department’s holdings can be accessed on request via the Templer Study Centre.
Address: National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, London, SW3 4HT
Head of Department: Dr Alastair Massie
Department Email: apfs@national-army-museum.ac.uk
Enquiries
The National Army Museum will try to answer specific questions relating to its Collections. If you are researching the military career of a relative please visit our Research Tips page.
General enquiries about the Collections can be sent by e-mail to info@national-army-museum.ac.uk. Please remember to include your postal address on all e-mail enquiries to allow for the prompt dispatch of material, if appropriate. Please also bear in mind that the Museum receives a large number of enquiries, so it may not be possible to respond to e-mails immediately. All enquiries, in whatever form, are dealt with by the departments in the order of their receipt.
Museum staff are not permitted to give valuations: these may be obtained instead from an auction house or a specialist dealer.
The Museum may lend artefacts only to Registered (or the equivalent) museums for Special Exhibitions, for a maximum period of a year and subject to specific Conditions of Loan.
Ordering copy photographs from the National Army Museum
Copy photographs of items in the Collections can be supplied, providing that copyright of the image is held by the Museum. Please note that, under current EU legislation, copyright remains with the artist or photographer of a work for 70 years after their death and that, in these cases, the Museum cannot supply any reproductions, for any reason.
For more information about ordering copy photographs, please contact the Museum’s Photographic Department by e-mail to photo@national-army-museum.ac.uk, by telephone on 020 7730 0717 extension 2324, or by fax on 020 7823 6573.
