Catalogue description Records of the Imperial War Museum

In March 1917 the government decided that a National War Museum should be established to collect and display material relating to the Great War. Interest in the project was shown by dominion governments and this led to the adoption of the title Imperial War Museum within a year of the idea first being suggested. The museum was formally established by the Imperial War Museum Act 1920 and a board of trustees appointed. The museum was opened in Crystal Palace in June 1920. Between 1924 and 1935 the museum was housed in two galleries next to the former Imperial Institute in South Kensington and it opened on its present site in Lambeth Road in July 1936. At the beginning of the Second World War the museum's terms of reference were broadened to cover both world wars and they were further extended in 1953 to cover all military operations in which Britain and the Commonwealth had engaged since 1914. During the Second World War the museum was bombed and the galleries remained closed from September 1940 until November 1946. In 1962 plans were approved for major extensions and improvements and the new buildings were opened in November 1966. Stage 1 of a major redevelopment was opened in July 1989.

The museum's departments include: Establishment and Finance; Research and Information; Art; Film; Exhibits and Firearms; Sound Recordings; Information Retrieval; Printed Books; Documents; Photographs; Permanent Exhibitions and Education and Publications. The museum is able to display only a fraction of its collections and by far the greater part of its holdings is organised in reference departments and reserve collections. The reference departments are at Lambeth, the reserve collections at the former RAF airfield at Duxford in Cambridgeshire. Among the collections are original paintings by the war artists, large collections of films, photographs, posters and documents and a library of 100,000 books, 25,000 pamphlets, 15,000 volumes of periodicals and 15,000 maps and technical drawings. Both the reference collections and the reserve collections are, as far as possible, made available to visitors and researchers wishing to use them. The Education and Publications Department provides a range of services including film shows, talks and specialised lectures.

The airfield at Duxford was acquired when no longer needed by the Ministry of Defence with three objects in mind: for preservation as an example of a Second World War airfield (the hangars are listed buildings); to restore the aircraft and vehicle collections that are housed there; and to provide proper storage and a point of public accesss to reserve collections.

The museum is responsible for HMS Belfast, moored in the Thames opposite the Tower of London. As early as 1967 the museum was making representations to the Ministry of Defence to save the Belfast from being scrapped and after the formation of the HMS Belfast Trust in 1971 the government agreed to present her to the trust. The Imperial War Museum assumed responsibility for running her in 1978. Many parts of the ship are open to public view and there are displays relating to a number of subjects.

The museum is also responsible for the Cabinet War Rooms situated in the basement of the government offices, Great George Street. These were opened to the public in 1984.

The museum's own records, which have been assigned the EN department, are held there under section 4(i) of the Public Records Act 1958; details are available from the Department of Documents.