The Imperial War Museum has an incomparable collection covering
all aspects of twentieth and twenty-first century conflict involving
Britain and the Commonwealth.
Web users can now access over 6,000 highlights from the
collection, including photographs, works of art, audio extracts,
aircraft and vehicles, documents and library material as well as
detailed catalogue information on over 160,000 items.
Also included are short essays on major historical themes that
lead you to selected highlights from the collections. To find out
more about the scope of our collections see:
Art
An extensive collection of paintings, sculpture, prints,
drawings and posters. A majority of the works held in the
collection were commissioned by the war artist's schemes of the
First and Second World Wars.
Click
here for more information on art exhibitions at the
Imperial War Museum London
Documents
The Department of Documents holds the papers of high ranking
officers, manuscripts of war poets and writers, and many unpublished
personal diaries, letters and memoirs. It also holds an extensive
collection of captured enemy records.
Exhibits
and Firearms
Exhibits in the Department's care range from artillery,
badges, communications equipment, currency, edged weapons, ephemera,
flags, medals, munitions, models, toys, uniforms and personal
equipment.
Film
and Video
The Film and Video Archive holds some 120 million feet of
film and 6,500 hours of video tape. A large proportion of material
has been transferred to the Museum from the Services and other
public bodies as the Archive is the official repository for such
public record films.
Click
here for more information on our film screenings at
Imperial War Museum London
Photograph
Archive
Containing over six million images, the Photograph Archive
is an enormously rich source of material on the two world wars. In
addition, its coverage spans the entire twentieth century and is
international in scope.
Printed
Books
A unique national reference library on twentieth century
conflict involving Britain and Commonwealth countries. We offer an
international range of unit histories, technical manuals,
biographies, autobiographies, and publications on the economic,
social and cultural aspects of war.
Sound
Archive
The Sound Archive's collection attempts to represent a
cross-section of experiences from the Boer War through the First and
Second World Wars, post-war conflicts such as the Korean War and the
Malayan Emergency to recent conflicts such as the Falklands and the
Gulf.
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