City Archives Changes Name to Reach Out to New Audiences
The second largest archive service in the UK will change its name next month, in order to attract new visitors and clarify the nature of its extensive collections. London Metropolitan Archives, which is owned and managed by the City of London Corporation, will drop ‘Metropolitan’ from its name and from Monday, 5th August, it will become known as The London Archives.
The decision to rebrand LMA follows analysis of feedback from workshops and surveys with potential users, some of whom thought that the Islington-based service could be holding the records of only the Metropolitan Police, London Metropolitan University, or London Underground’s Metropolitan Line.
It also became clear, said LMA staff, that the word ‘metropolitan’ had fallen out of everyday use, was not commonly understood or well defined, and did not help explain what LMA could offer, both, to researchers who were interested in using the service, or to new visitors.
The archives’ reopening as The London Archives will be celebrated by a free display, ‘Magna Carta and King John’, featuring two of the most iconic documents in the archives’ collections: London’s Magna Carta (1297) and ‘the mayoralty charter’ of King John, issued in the same year (1215) as the first issue of Magna Carta. It will be the first time that London’s Magna Carta has been on public display at The London Archives (or LMA).
The King John charter required the Lord Mayor of the City of London to be presented to the sovereign for approval and take an oath of loyalty and now, the Lord Mayor’s Show, which takes place every year in November, is a key part of the process of presenting or showing the Lord Mayor.
With over 100km of books, maps, photographs, films and documents dating back to 1067 held in its strong rooms, London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) records the history of the capital, preserving and sharing the stories of Londoners, businesses, charities, hospitals, schools, community groups, and many others.
The archives’ most significant documents and collections include:
- William Charter (c.1067) – the oldest document held in the City Corporation’s archives
- Magna Carta (1297)
- ‘mayoralty charter’ of King John (1215)
- a property deed for a house in Blackfriars, bearing William Shakespeare’s authenticated signature (c.1613)
- some of the first recorded photographs (‘Daguerreotypes’) taken of London (1840s/1850s)
- maps showing bomb damage to London during the Second World War
- the UK’s largest collection of filmed interviews with people affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic of the 1980/1990s
The team at Cog Design met staff at LMA to discuss the service’s unique offer, and to overcome the challenge of the archives being perceived as ‘hidden’ or requiring permission to enter. The new brand, says the agency, aims to evoke a sense of openness, curiosity, and inquisitiveness, empowering visitors to fill gaps in their knowledge.
