When you do archive research London, the process of digging into official records, personal papers, and institutional documents preserved across the city. Also known as historical record research, it’s not about dusty shelves—it’s about finding the real people behind London’s biggest moments. Whether you’re tracing how a street got its name, checking why a Tube station was built, or learning who lived in a building before it became a vegan bakery, archive research connects you to the city’s living memory.
London’s archives aren’t just in big libraries. They’re in local council offices, church basements, university collections, and even the back rooms of museums like the National Portrait Gallery, where portraits carry handwritten notes that reveal forgotten lives. You’ll find records that explain how TfL refunds became a formal process, why Westminster Abbey’s design changed over centuries, or how the first Roman amphitheatre was rediscovered under a car park. These aren’t abstract facts—they’re documents people signed, stamped, and saved because they mattered.
What makes archive research in London so powerful is that it doesn’t just show you what happened. It shows you how ordinary people lived through it. You can compare 1920s rent prices to today’s student budgets, read letters from workers who built the DLR, or find old ads for the first vegan donut shop. The posts below pull directly from these records—whether it’s proving where the best dim sum really came from, uncovering why Hatton Garden became a jewelry hub, or tracking how accessibility rules changed for the Tube. This isn’t guesswork. It’s what’s written down.
What you’ll find here isn’t a list of sources. It’s a collection of real stories pulled from archives—each one answering a question someone actually asked about London. No fluff. No theory. Just the facts people left behind, and what they tell us about the city today.
Discover how to access the British Library's priceless manuscripts and literary collections in London. See original drafts by Dickens, Austen, and The Beatles, and learn how anyone can visit for free.