Below are some recommended links for further information about our archive collections, music history, performers and other places of entertainment.
AIM25 provides digital access to collection-level descriptions of the archives of over 100 higher education institutions, learned societies, cultural organisations and livery companies within the greater London area.
The Archives Hub provides a gateway to thousands of the UK’s richest archives. Representing over 220 institutions across the country, the Archives Hub is an effective way to discover unique and often little-known sources to support your research.
The Association of Performing Arts Collections (APAC) is the Subject Specialist Network of performing arts collections in the UK and Ireland.
The BBC run the Proms archive which contains details of all the Proms concerts since 1895. The Proms began at the Queen’s Hall but since 1941 have been held at the Royal Albert Hall.
The British Library has a world-famous collection of printed and manuscript music, music recordings, concert programmes, books and periodicals on music.
This database is the result of a three-year project (2004-2007), and allows users to find descriptions of concert programme collections held by leading libraries, archives and museums in the UK and Ireland.
The Library has over 200,000 items, including early printed and manuscript materials and recordings. The archives of several eminent musicians are held including Sir Henry Wood and Otto Klemperer.
The Royal College of Music Library and Archive holds internationally significant collections including printed music, recordings, music literature, journals and a renowned collection of manuscripts.
The VADS website is of special interest to design students and contains a portfolio of 100,000 images from visual art collections that are freely available and copyright cleared for use in learning, teaching and research in the UK. It hosts a collection of images from the Royal Albert Hall poster collection.
The Victoria & Albert Museum’s Theatre and Performance collection holds items related to all areas of the live performing art, documenting both current practice and the history of the performing arts in the UK.
For more information about the history of the Royal Albert Hall please see the following published works;
- Clark, Ronald W, 'The Royal Albert Hall' (Hamish Hamilton, 1958)
- Thackrah J.R, 'The Royal Albert Hall' (Terence Dalton, 1983)
- The Royal Albert Hall: A Victorian Masterpiece for the 21st Century' (Fitzhardinge Press, 2003)
- Hazlewood, Charles, 'The Royal Albert Hall: A Social History' (BBC Audiobooks, Jan 2012)