About Tyne & Wear Archives

Based in Discovery Museum in the heart of Newcastle, Tyne & Wear Archives is home to thousands of documents, housed on 20km of shelving, relating to the five local districts of Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead, North Tyneside and South Tyneside.

The documents range from the 12th to 21st centuries and include building plans, school, hospital and church records as well as business records, especially those of important local industries such as shipbuilding, engineering and mining.

The Tyne & Wear Shipyards Collection is of international significance as it is included on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

There are a number of services available to the public including:

• Research
• Search room access - currently this must be pre-booked. Click here to book access to the searchroom. 
• Copying
• Conservation

Take time to look at our regular changing displays of images from the collection which can be found along the corridor leading to the search room. We've recently shown 19th century mug shots, photographs of ships built on the Tyne, and photos from Wallsend Boys Football Club.

Please note, the BFI Mediatheque service is no longer available. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.