Archive collection

The historic records of Royal Mail Group Limited deal with essential aspects of everyday life beyond the delivery of mail. All aspects of this organisation’s unique history, from employment records to stamp artwork, are held within The Royal Mail Archive, one of the oldest business archives in the world.

The archive is officially recognised as being of outstanding national importance (find out about our Designated status). It fills over 2.5 miles of shelving.

As the Post Office was a government department for much of its history, the archive is Public Record. The BPMA continues to collect and care for the records of Royal Mail Group today.

In this section...

• Business history records

• Financial records
• Individuals
• Counter Services
• Post Office Headquarters
• Savings Bank
• Sorting and delivery
• Telecommunication
  

• Family history records
  

• Appointments
• Pensions & Gratuities
• Post Office Magazine
  
  
• Library
  

• Local history records
  
  
  • Post Office premises
• Maps
• Circulars

• Stamps & Philately (*including the digitised R M Phillips Collection*)

• Great British Stamps
• Universal Postal Union
• Great British Postal Stationary
• British Postal Markings
  

• Transport
  
  
  • Mail by road
• Mail by rail
• Mail by air
• Mail by sea

• Visual and media records
  

• Post Office Photograph Library
• Posters
• Films
  
  
• Wartime history records
  

How you can see the archive collection

The Royal Mail Archive is housed in Freeling House in central London. You can find out more about our opening times and Search Room facilities in the Visiting section.

Our cataloguing team are working hard to make more and more of our archive collection available in our online catalogue. Frequent online exhibitions also introduce wider audiences to the stories that our collection can tell.