Research Room

The Research Room is a designated quiet study space where you can access IWM’s library and archive collections in-person. Our Research Room is located on the second floor of IWM London and is free to use for anyone wanting to conduct research using our collections.

Researching with our collections could help you to:

Grow your knowledge of a specific conflict
Discover more on the topics raised in our exhibits
Trace your own family history
Learn about an individual’s personal experience of conflict.

Visit the Research Room

Plan your visit

We have prepared a detailed guide to help you ahead of your Research Room visit.
This guide explains:
Pre-visit information
The booking process
How to order material
What you can expect on the day
Our guidelines for handling material

Plan your Research Room visit
Book an appointment

Between Tuesday - Friday we provide access to original documents, sound recordings, photographs, IWM's administrative archive records, our library material and eResources.
Appointments are essential and must be made at least seven days in advance of your planned visit so that material can be made available.

Book appointment
Art and 3D objects

Mondays are reserved to accommodate up to four researchers for viewing 3D objects or artwork, subject to availability.
Requests may take at least a month to process if a formal condition check is required.
The process for booking a Monday appointment to view 3D objects or artwork is different to booking an appointment for archival or library material. Monday appointment requests are submitted by emailing the Research Room team directly.

Book a Monday appointment

Research Room opening times

Transcript

Charlotte Willsmore: "Welcome to the Research Room at Imperial War Museums. The Research Room is a designated study space where we provide access to our collections. We have created this video to explain to you how you can access our facilities, and to hopefully inspire you as to how you can use our collections.

The Research Room is located on the second floor of IWM London and is open to anybody wanting to conduct research using our collections. We regularly welcome researchers who are authors, academics, actors, and artists; family historians, fashion designers, film researchers and students to name just a few of the many individuals who come to access our collections. IWM holds 33.5 million items charting the causes, course, and consequences of war and conflict in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in Britain and the Commonwealth. The material you view in Research Room could help you to deepen your knowledge of a specific conflict, discover more on the subjects raised in our exhibits, trace your own family history, or learn more about an individual’s personal experience of conflict.

IWM has a unique national reference library of over 150,000 items. We hold material on military units and campaign histories as well as biographies, journals, and newspapers. Our printed ephemera collection contains items relating to the economic, social, and cultural aspects of war and an extensive propaganda collection. Our documents archives cover a wealth of personal experience and testimony. IWM holds over 20,000 individual collections of private papers, principally comprising unpublished diaries, letters, and memoirs. The sound archive holds over 35,000 sound recordings comprising one of the largest oral history collections of its type in the world as well as significant holdings of speeches, sound effects, broadcasts, poetry, and music. The photograph archive comprises 11 million photographs and our collections cover conflict from official, press, and private perspectives. IWM’s own administrative records date back to its foundation in 1917. These files detail the work of IWM in developing collections, planning, and designing exhibitions, past publications, and guidebooks. The unique archive of the War Artists’ Advisory Committee is available on microfilm in the Research Room. This collection reveals the day-to-day running of the war art schemes as well as glimpses of the artists’ own experiences.

Subject to individual assessment, we can also provide access to some artworks on paper and small objects. To access any collections in the Research Room you will need to book an appointment through our website. Please visit our website to find our opening days and times. When booking your appointment, you can request up to ten items per-day, and this needs to be done at least seven days in advance. Your material is then delivered from our off-site stores to the Research Room for the date of your appointment.

If you have requested to listen to any of our sound collection, you will be seated at one of our sound kiosks in the Research Room where you can access our digitised recordings and listen to cassettes, and CDs. Some of our collections have been transferred to microfilm, and we have two high-resolution microfilm readers in our Research Room with zoom capability to help you read the documents.

When making your appointment, you can request to use the computer facilities in the Research Room to access a selection of e-resources. These include Ancestry, The British Newspaper Archive, JSTOR, The Trench Journals and Unit Magazines of the First World War, and the digitised Women’s Work Collection. Please contact us for a full list of the e-resources available.

During your visit to the Research Room, you can also consult the books on our open access shelves. They contain a curated selection of items from the library collection including regimental histories, some recent acquisitions to our periodicals collection, and other popular reference texts. We have also introduced a self-photography permit. This is free and allows you to take digital photographs for personal non-commercial uses and other ‘fair dealing’ copying purposes with your personal device. Further details are available from the librarian on duty during your appointment. As you can see from this brief introduction, IWM holds a treasure trove of collections, which are freely available to you.To search for material, you would like to see, and for information on how to book an appointment, please visit our webpage. You can also contact us with any questions via email. We hope to welcome you to the IWM Research Room soon."

Monday: 10am - 4:30pm (for viewing 3D objects or artwork)
Tuesday: 10am - 4:30pm
Wednesday: 10am - 4:30pm
Thursday: 10am - 4:30pm
Friday: 10am - 4:30pm

Watch our video for an introduction to the Research Room facilities and the material you can view for your research.

Accessibility

We are currently working on improving the accessibility of our Research Room.

The following resources will be useful to look at ahead of your visit to the Research Room:

IWM London accessibility guide, including details of the Research Room.
Sensory map of the spaces to navigate to the Research Room.

During your visit we can offer large print registration forms and information sheets.

Research using our collections

Before booking a visit to the Research Room, you need to identify any material you would like to view. Learn more about the collections you can view in the Research Room.

© IWM (D 366) 

Books and Publications

Our Library Collection consists of over 150,000 items covering twentieth and twenty-first century conflict involving British and Commonwealth countries.
We hold material on military units and campaign histories, biographies, autobiographies, manuals, journals, newspapers, ephemera and propaganda all relating to the economic, social, and cultural aspects of war
© IWM (Q 5242)

Documents

The Documents archive covers a wealth of first-hand written testimony principally comprising unpublished diaries, letters, and memoirs written by British and Commonwealth servicemen and women, plus civilians, from 1914 to the present day.
The archive also includes a considerable number of captured documents from the Second World War, mainly concerning the German and Japanese war efforts, as well as the official British set of the Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes Trials records.
IWM (A 35108)

eResources

The Research Room at IWM London can be used to access our library's eResource offer. We provide free reference access to a range of scholarly journals, digitised newspapers and serials, reference databases, and digitised archival collections via our computers. Explore our eResources and discover how they could be useful to your research.
© IWM (Q 61181) 

Museum Administrative Records

The Museum Archive manages IWM's own administrative records, which date back to its foundation in 1917.
These records cover all aspects of the museum's work, including the development of collections, planning and design of exhibitions, and the history of IWM branches.
© IWM (CH 6011) 

Photographs

IWM's Photograph Archive holds approximately 11 million photographs covering the cause, course, and consequences of modern conflict from the First World War to present day.
© IWM (D 4577) 

Sound Archive

The Sound Archive holds over 33,000 recordings relating to conflict since 1914. This consists of the largest oral history collection of its type in the world, with contributions from both service personnel and non-combatants as well as significant holdings of speeches, sound effects, broadcasts, poetry and music.

Films are not available to view in the Research Room. Search and view our film collections online, or contact our film curators about access.

Student Inductions

We periodically host inductions for groups of undergraduate and postgraduate students to introduce them to the Research Room and how to use our collections for research purposes.

If you are a university staff member looking to arrange a session contact us for more information about this service.

Explore

Learn more about how to research using our collections, and IWM's work in supporting and conducting academic research as an Independent Research Organisation.

British soldiers and their families standing in front of a plane during the Berlin Blockade 1949

Tracing your Family History

The extensive collections of the Imperial War Museums reflect people from all walks of life. This makes us a practical resource to help put the wartime experiences of your relatives into context. Our expert staff have put together these useful guides to help you start your research into your family history, explaining what records you will need and where to find them.