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.
You are welcome to drop in and use the materials available in the search room. These are:
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.
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.
We have a number of online resources available:
You can access local history information free of charge.
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
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.
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.