Skip to content Logo
Sign in to My Account
Residents
Adult Social Care
Benefits and money advice
Bins, rubbish and recycling
Births, deaths, ceremonies and nationality
Children, young people and families
Council Tax
Education, schools and learning
Environmental issues
Housing
Jobs, careers and volunteering
Libraries, arts and heritage
Neighbourhoods and communities
Nuisance, crime and safety
Parking, roads and travel
Parks, leisure and healthy living
Planning and building control
Business
Business advice and support
Business rates
Coronavirus support
Filming in Brent
Food safety and hygiene
Health and safety
Information for landlords
Land, property and workspaces
Licences and permits
Pest control
Planning and building control
Promote your business
Regeneration
Tenders and procurement
Commercial waste
Trading Standards
Council and democracy
Elections and voting
Council representatives
Meetings and decision making
Complaints
Contact Brent Council
My Account
About the council
Strategies, priorities and plans
Budgets and spending
Access to information
Fraud and corruption
Home
Libraries, arts and heritage
Brent Museum and Archives
Brent Archives

Brent Archive

The London Borough of Brent was formed in 1965, combining the boroughs of Wembley and Willesden. The Archives holds a variety of material relating to the local areas of Brent, from Alperton to Uxendon.

Brent Archives is here to help you find out more about the history of these local areas.

A short guide to what you can find at The Archives 

The search room

You are welcome to drop in and use the materials available in the search room. These are:

  • local pamphlet boxes
  • local history reference books
  • local history society publications
  • directories
  • Electoral registers

Researchers can view items held in our off site store by requesting it in advance, please allow 3 working days. Please search the catalogue to see what we hold in the store.

To make a request call 020 8937 3600 or email museum.archives@brent.gov.uk.

The collection

Archive collection

Brent Archives holds the records of Brent Council and its predecessors, including council minutes and building plans, as well as historical maps and street directories, electoral registers, school records, and an extensive collection of photographs and postcards.

Our local history collections include a large reference library collection, and local newspapers dating back to 1870. We also collect the records of local groups, organisations and individuals.

Online collection

We have a number of online resources available:

  • Brief history of Brent and the local areas
  • The online catalogue, including our Image and Photograph collection.
  • View films from the collection online through the London Screen Archives.

You can access local history information free of charge.

Copyrights and reproductions

Brent Museum and Archives strives to do our best to abide by copyright legislation whilst providing access to our wonderful collections to the Brent community and wider public.

While many photographs, audio-visual recordings and paper records in the collection have been donated directly from Brent Council or have transferred copyright to Brent Museum and Archives, a great deal of the items in our collection still have copyright ownership outside of our scope.

In some cases the original copyright holder, or their successor, is known and named in our catalogue. This information is easily accessible and can be provided upon request. This is not the case for all items in the collection. For example, it is near impossible to obtain copyright information for postcards published by early twentieth century companies. Brent Museum and Archives will always carry out due diligence in obtaining information Rights ownership but there will be instances where the copyright status is unknown or unverifiable. These are identified as ‘orphan works.’ If you would like further information into how copyright affects you or your use of items from the collection, email: museum.archives@brent.gov.uk

Using archive material

If you wish to use an image in Brent Museum and Archives collection you will be charged a 'reproduction fee' providing permission to reproduce images which we have digitised and supplied. In the case of images that are under our copyright or are copyright-free, the 'reproduction fee' is treated as a 'copyright fee'. It is important to note that gaining copyright permission not held by Brent Museum and Archives is the responsibility of the user and not Brent Museum and Archives. A reprographics form must be signed as part of the purchasing process; this can be done both in the search room and electronically via email.

Images may not be reproduced, published or distributed in any format without the permission of Brent Museum and Archives. Any items from the collection that are used, following permission being granted, must be credited with the caption “Thanks to Brent Museum and Archives”

Should you publish a book using material from our collection, we would be grateful for a copy of the book or programme, or an off-print of the article, to be added to the local studies collection.

We are not in a position to offer legal advice on copyright issues relating to private collections such as prints or postcards but will do our best to help with all reprographic enquiries.

Charges

Reproduction costs and charges vary depending on use - starting at £7 for private non-commercial use, and at £37.50 for commercial use. Discounts may be available for students, registered charities and community groups. We will also provide a discount for requests of more than 5 images. For any reprographic fee enquiries, email: museum.archives@brent.gov.uk

We do not provide a printed photographic service. All images are available as digital files only. Should you wish to have copies of archival records visitors are welcome to purchase the daily non-flash photography fee of £5. This provides permission to photograph documents in the search room in accordance with data protection legislation.

Address:

The Library at Willesden Green – second floor
95 High Road
Willesden
London, NW10 2SF

Archive opening times:

Tuesday and Wednesday: 10:30am to 5pm
Thursday: 1pm to 8pm
Saturday: 10:30am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm

Closed on bank holiday Monday, 2 May 2022.

Phone: 020 8937 3600
Email: museum.archives@brent.gov.uk
Brent homepage
Your council
Complaints and feedback Contact the council Jobs at the council News and Press office Sign up to our weekly email news updates
My Account
Manage your Council Tax, housing benefits, council rent account and more through My Account.
Sign in or register
Follow us on social
Brent council's Facebook page Brent council's Instagram page Brent council's LinkedIn site Brent council's Twitter feed Brent council's YouTube channel
Accessibility statement Cookies policy Privacy policy Terms of use
© Copyright Brent Council 2022