An appointment is required before visiting. The searchroom has a limited number of seats and visitors arriving unannounced may not be admitted. Appointments may be made by:
e-mail:archives@bt.com
telephone: (020) 7440 4220
fax: (020) 7242 1967
The public searchroom is open Tuesday and Thursday, 10.00am - 4.00pm all year round except for public holidays and on occasions when scheduled events may be occurring.
Please report to the building reception. In the interests of Security visitors will be escorted to the Archives facility.
A Register of Searchers will require completion before commencing research.
Lockers are provided for visitor security. After removing any research items, personal effects must be secured and the key retained until departure.
Research material is broadly divided into three categories; the telecommunications library (printed sources), Archives (original source documents) and visual media (photographs, films and videos). Please discuss your requirements with the Archives team to ensure the information required can be located without wasted effort.
Library
Many journals, reference books and other printed sources are available on open shelves and may be consulted at a desk. A computer catalogue is available in the search room for searching the core collection. Books must be returned to a member of the Archives team or left on a desk after use.
Archives
Records under 30 years old are not open to members of the public under the Public Records Acts, 1958 and 1967, and BT policy. A computer catalogue is available in the searchroom for most of the archival documents. Searches can be undertaken on specific subjects or general browsing of topics. Hard copy catalogues are also available. Please ask for assistance if the records required cannot be found. The Archivist reserves the right to withhold documents which are uncatalogued or in a fragile condition.
Photographic, film and video collections
The historical photographic collection is comprised of approximately half a million images on telecommunications themes dating to the last century. It is accessible by computer catalogue and a comprehensive subject picture library. A small sample of the images held can be viewed via the Image Gallery. Computer catalogues are also available for searching the numerous moving images in various reel and video film formats.
A Document Request Slip (available on desks) must be completed for each document required and passed to a member of the Archives team. Normally, only six items will be produced per person at any one time.
Documents held by the BT Archives are in most cases unique and irreplaceable. To ensure their survival for future researchers the following policy should be observed:
Eating and drinking are only permitted in the designated area and not at the research desks.
A non-smoking policy applies to the building.
Only pencils may be used when making notes; the use of ink or biro is not permitted when using documents.
No marks should be made on documents.
Under no circumstances can documents be removed from the searchroom.
Documents must not be lent on or used as an underlay to write on note paper.
Support cushions are availalbe for large books or for volumes with weak spines.
Documents should be returned to the correct boxes and bundles from which they came and in the original order.
Documents and catalogues can be left on the desk after use.
All documents in the BT Archives are made available only on condition that none should be reproduced or published until permission has been obtained from the Archivist who will advise on copyright, reproduction fees and appropriate forms of acknowledgement.
Photocopies are provided at the discretion of the BT Archives and are subject to copyright restrictions. A form will require completion before commencing any photocopying.
Customers may undertake their own copying after first checking any copyright restrictions, or that the required items are not too fragile to be copied.
Individual documents should not be removed from registered files or other bundles of papers fastened together. Documents should be marked with a slip of paper and passed to an Archives team member for copying.
The first four photocopies on each visit are free of charge. Charges of 25p per monochrome copy and 55p per colour copy (not available on-site) apply for subsequent copies.
The Archivist reserves the right to refuse the copying of documents that are too large or too fragile to be reproduced without risk of damage.
