Southbank Centre Archive

About the collection

Begun in the 1980s as a labour of love by a member of our staff, our archive has grown to occupy more than 1.4km of shelving. 

It holds documents, oral histories, programmes, photographs, posters, artworks and objects dating back to the 1951 Festival of Britain.

The archive is now recognised as a locally, nationally and internationally significant resource. Its significance relates to the history of architecture, geography, politics and society as well as visual and performing arts.

Our archive collections are linked to the Festival of Britain and South Bank festival site, the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery. 

They record how the Southbank Centre has been run over the decades. And we’ve got truly remarkable collections of photographs, programmes and posters galore, from decades of landmark cultural events.