A new name for London Metropolitan Archives

It is a summer of significant changes here at London Metropolitan Archives, including a new name for our service. 

As part of the City of London Corporation, we are the second largest archive service in the UK, recording the history of the capital from 1067, preserving and sharing the stories of Londoners, businesses, charities, hospitals, schools, community groups and many more.

At the end of 2022, we held a series of workshops with our staff group and commissioned surveys with current and potential users of our service. Potential users thought we might be the archive of the Metropolitan Police, Metropolitan Line or London Metropolitan University. It was also clear that the word 'metropolitan' has fallen out of everyday use. 

We have therefore concluded that a change to our name is an important part of our vision 'to open London's history to the world', making our services and collections open and accessible to everyone and on 5 August we will change our name from 'London Metropolitan Archives' to 'The London Archives'.

We hope that our new name, and the work that follows to promote the new brand, will make a positive contribution in increasing awareness of our sector, and the fabulous archive services across London and the UK. Changing our name is just part of our work to open the extraordinary collections in our care and build a service which reflects London's diversity today.

We are developing a new website, a new digital home for The London Archives, which will provide clear information about our services, exhibitions and events, and share range of engaging content about the collections, with the aim of inspiring experienced and new researchers alike.

Our schools programme will relaunch in September, building on well-established work with local schools to develop new sessions which immerse students in the history of the city and give them an exciting grounding in archives, preservation and the importance of our recorded memory.

Also launching in September, our new events program will offer a wide range of opportunities to engage with the archives including lunchtime and evening sessions.

Please do keep an eye on our website and socials throughout August to keep up to date with our new brand and events programme.