Southbank Centre Archive
During the Redevelopment of the Royal Festival Hall Southbank Centre Archive search room is closed. The Archive plans to reopen later in 2007 in a newly-designed space on Level one. Services may be restricted during the return of collections to the hall.
During the RFH redevelopment most of the Archival collections will be in storage, although the Archivist will be available for advice and enquires, and donations of material. Most help will have to be of an advisory nature until the collections return to the Hall. The Archivist would like to thank the public for their patience during the redevelopment period.
Southbank Centre Archive gratefully welcomes offers of material relevant to our collection. Although the Royal Festival Hall has been open to concert goers for more than half a century, the Archive itself was established only a decade ago and there are some gaps. We would always be grateful to hear from former patrons who may have come across or preserved items which form part of the earlier history of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, or Purcell Room or in some way are associated with Southbank Centre. Helpful items might include things such as concert programmes, photographs, recordings, drawings, artefacts, even brochures. Reminiscences of performances (written or recorded) are welcome as well.
Many important items in our collection have been gifts from generous donors eager to see items reflecting the history of the Royal Festival Hall preserved in the most logical place, the hall itself. It may be that not all items offered can be accepted. For items not accepted, the reason will almost certainly be duplication or space restrictions in the Archive. Normally anyone giving items to Southbank Centre Archive will be asked to sign a deed of gift.
Unfortunately, Southbank Centre Archive cannot give valuations of items.
Some of the types of material relating to arts and events which will be considered for preserving include:
- Programmes
- Photographs of people and events
- Leaflets and festival brochures
- Photographs of the site and buildings
- Videos/ tapes/ records/ CDs of performances not in our collection
- General ephemera (sample tickets, gifts, promotional items, trinkets)
- Postcards or correspondence relating personal associations with SBC (for instance, personal letters describing concerts or visits to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall or Purcell Room which could be valuable to future researchers)
Security
Access to any items placed in the Archives is controlled by the Archive administrator. If items are sensitive, a person depositing them might request that they be closed for a certain period of time, or that viewing them might entail restrictions.
Listing
Any office or person donating items to the Archive is encouraged to provide a list of the items containing as much information as can be determined about the source and content of the items. Identification of persons or places on photographs would be especially helpful.
Desired items
Photographs taken at Southbank Centre, especially if the individuals can be identified, might prove of interest to the Archive. Also, not all programmes for previous events survive in Southbank Centre Archive. Very few brochures survive from the first decades of the concert halls.
Public availability
Southbank Centre Archive is available to the public on an appointment basis. Interested parties should contact the Archive Administrator, Stephen Miller by telephone 020 7921 0713, email stephen.miller@southbankcentre.co.uk or post at:
Archive Administrator
Southbank Centre
London SE1 8XX.
Looking forward
Southbank Centre Archive has embarked upon a programme of modernisation and consolidation to ensure the archive keeps pace with the growing amount of material in the new millennium and becomes more able to offer its material to researchers and the public. An active programme of organising, cataloguing, and eventually digitising is being planned.
