Theatre & Performance Archives

The collection was founded in the 1920s when private collector Gabrielle Enthoven donated her extensive collection of theatrical designs, memorabilia, books and photographs to the Museum. Since then the collection has continued to grow.

Particular strengths are the archives of key theatres, theatre and dance companies, 20th-century stage designers, actors and directors, photographers and government bodies such as the Arts Council. Typically, the archives contain a wide range of materials such as diaries, correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, business papers, and designs.

There is currently no access to the V&A's study collections at Blythe House, including the archive collections, while we relocate them to the new V&A East Storehouse in Stratford's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We are unable to consult material in the collections on behalf of enquirers. Full access and enquiry services will resume in 2025.

We can support with general enquiries, advise on other available resources (at the V&A or elsewhere), and provide a copying service for a limited selection of digitised Archive collections. You can also access the V&A Museum Archive and Registry, which is now located at V&A South Kensington.

Ask us a question: archive@vam.ac.uk

Donations

Due to limited storage space, we are not currently able to accept archive donations. If you would like to offer a donation for consideration or discuss further, please contact: archive@vam.ac.uk.

Search the archives to discover collections documenting both current practice and the history of performing arts in the UK.

The National Video Archive of Performance (NVAP) is an archive of over 300 high-quality live performance recordings made since 1992. This ever-expanding archive has been made possible due a unique agreement between the Federation of Entertainment Unions and the V&A Theatre and Performance collections, enabling us to make these recordings without payment of artists' fees, for research purposes.

Appointments can be made to view recordings in the National Art Library at V&A South Kensington. To arrange, contact: archive@vam.ac.uk

We will begin taking appointments from the Summer of 2025 for viewings at V&A East Storehouse.

School group viewings take place in the Learning Centre at the V&A, South Kensington. For more details, email: schools@vam.ac.uk

Visit the Theatre & Performance blog to keep up-to-date with the latest news, explore our collections, read about our new acquisitions, and hear first when collections are catalogued and available for research in our Reading Room.