Royal Albert Hall Archive

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 2000 Royal Albert Hall
  • Dates of Creation
      1865-[ongoing]
  • Name of Creator
  • Physical Description
      Records of the Royal Albert Hall
  • Digital Content

Scope and Content

The Royal Albert Hall is the 'world's most famous stage' and its archive collections are a unique culture, arts and science heritage resource. The Archive exists to collect, preserve and makes accessible the Hall’s history of performance, material about the iconic Grade 1 Listed building and the organisation itself.

The world's greatest musicians, dancers, sportsmen and statesmen have appeared at the Royal Albert Hall. The Archive is the guardian of the Hall's collective memory and is responsible for managing collections which include posters, handbills, posters, photographs, plans, prints, art works, administrative records, and ephemeral items such as tickets, leaflets and merchandising.

The collections include:

  • Royal Albert Hall Events Collection (RAHE)
  • 12,000 event programmes, posters, tickets, handbills, brochures, event schedules, bookings documents, souvenirs, reports, autographs, photographs and audio-visual recordings. Royal Albert Hall Collection (RAH)
  • Royal Charter, building drawings and plans, photographs, official publications, committee minutes, Council records, press cuttings, ephemera, antiques, artworks and furniture. Queen’s Hall Collection (QH)
  • Handbills and programmes from the former concert hall and Sir Henry Wood material. Charles Graham-Dixon Collection (CGD)
  • 17th Century Dutch paintings by artists including Pieter de Hooch and Jacob van Ruisdael, bequeathed in 1985 by Charles Graham-Dixon, former Vice President of the Hall. Exhibition Catalogues Collection (EX)
  • Catalogues, reports and prints from the 1851 Great Exhibition and 1862 International Exhibition.
  • Victoria & Albert Collection (VA)
  • Artworks and objects relating to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

The Archive also has a small amount of reference material relating to the Royal Albert Hall, neighbouring institutions and associated persons and organisations.

Access Information

The Royal Albert Hall Archive is open to the public by appointment, Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. Please contact the Archivist for an appointment

Other Finding Aids

The Royal Albert Hall Archive has an online Performance Database, listing all the events that have happened at the Hall since 1871 and a Catalogue Database, listing all the Archival material that is available to researchers. They can be found here.

Archivist's Note

If you have any queries about the Royal Albert Hall Performance Database, please contact us at: archives@royalalberthall.com

Corporate Names