The AAD's collecting area largely reflects that of the Museum's collections. Subjects include:
- Architecture and interior design
- Book illustration
- Ceramics and glass
- Contemporary art and design
- Exhibition design
- Fashion
- Fine arts
- Furniture design
- Graphic design
- Metalwork, silver and jewellery
- Stained glass design
- Textile design
The AAD holds over 350 separate archive groups. They vary in size from a few to several thousand items and contain many different types of material, such as designs, sketches, order books, accounts, correspondence, photographs and promotional material. In addition, some printed ephemera is collected as a record of contemporary developments in advertising, packaging and graphic design, and to complement the holdings of the museum.
Access
We welcome all visitors to view material from the Archive of Art and Design by appointment in the Study Centre at V&A East Storehouse. Archive appointments are available on Mondays to Wednesdays from 10.00-17.00. All visits are by appointment only and require 2 weeks’ notice. Please submit an appointment booking to request your items.
We can support with general enquiries, advise on other available resources (at the V&A or elsewhere), and provide a copying service for a limited selection of digitised Archive collections. You can also access the V&A Museum Archive and Registry, which is now located at V&A South Kensington.
Donations
If you would like to offer a donation for consideration or discuss further, please contact us.
Search the archive
Search the archive to discover the working papers of artists, designers and companies in the applied arts and design.
Research guides
Our Research guides list the archives that we hold by subject, and are a useful place to start your research. Use them to find out more about what we hold relating to subjects such as fashion, textiles, silver, and interior design.
Blog
Visit the Tales from the Archives blog to discover interesting facts about the history of the V&A and hidden stories from our various archives. We will also keep you informed about our current and future projects, offer sneak previews of our new acquisitions as well as insights into what it's like to run a busy archive service.