View source for Imperial War Museum

{{Short description|British national military museums organization}}
{{About|the British national museum organisation}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox museum
| name            = Imperial War Museums
| image           = Imperial War Museum, London (geograph 4108048).jpg
| caption         = Imperial War Museum London
| logo            = Imperial War Museums logo.svg
| established     = {{Start date and age|1917}} (branches opened 1976, 1978, 1984 and 2002)
| location        = '''IWM London:''' [[Lambeth Road]], [[London]]<br />'''[[IWM Duxford]]:''' [[Duxford]], [[Cambridgeshire]]<br />'''{{HMS|Belfast|C35|6}}:''' [[The Queen's Walk (South Bank)|The Queen's Walk]], London<br />'''[[Churchill War Rooms]]:''' Clive Steps, King Charles Street, London<br />'''[[IWM North]]:''' The Quays, Trafford Wharf Road, [[Manchester]]
| mapframe        = yes
| mapframe-caption = Interactive fullscreen map
| mapframe-zoom   = 11
| mapframe-marker = museum
| mapframe-wikidata = yes
| coordinates     = {{WikidataCoord|display=it}}
| visitors        = '''All branches:''' 2,667,926<br />'''IWM London:''' 1,073,936<ref name="ALVA 2019 visitor numbers">{{cite web |title=ALVA - Association of Leading Visitor Attractions |url=https://www.alva.org.uk/details.cfm?p=423 |website=www.alva.org.uk |access-date=23 October 2020}}</ref><br />'''IWM Duxford:''' 401,287<br />'''HMS ''Belfast'':''' 327,206<br />'''Churchill War Rooms''': 620,933<br />'''IWM North''': 244,564
| collection      = 33,000,000 archival items, 435,589 museum items<ref>{{cite report |date=2024 |title=Imperial War Museum: Annual Report and Accounts, 2023-2024 |url=http://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66e98e2210f8726dc23aa2c5/Imperial_War_Museum_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2023_to_2024.pdf |page=15 |isbn=978-1-5286-4879-0 |access-date=9 July 2025}}</ref>
| director        = Caro Howell
| president       = [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent]]<br />'''Chairman''': [[Guy Weston]]
| publictransit   = {{rail-interchange|london|underground}} [[Lambeth North tube station|Lambeth North]] (IWM London)
| network         = IWM
| website         = {{URL|www.iwm.org.uk}}
}}
The '''Imperial War Museum''' ('''IWM'''), currently branded "'''Imperial War Museums'''", is a British [[national museum]]. Its headquarters are in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civil and military war effort and sacrifice of the United Kingdom and [[British Empire|its Empire]] during the [[First World War]]. The museum's remit has since expanded to include all conflicts in which British or Commonwealth forces have been involved since 1914. As of 2012, the museum aims "to provide for, and to encourage, the study and understanding of the history of modern war and 'wartime experience'."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/corporate |title=About us |author=Imperial War Museums |work=iwm.org.uk |access-date=28 August 2012}}</ref>

Originally housed in [[the Crystal Palace]] at [[Sydenham Hill]], the museum opened to the public in 1920. In 1924, it moved to space in the [[Imperial Institute]] in [[South Kensington]] and in 1936 it acquired a permanent home at the former [[Bethlem Royal Hospital]] in [[Southwark]], which serves as its headquarters. The outbreak of the [[Second World War]] saw the museum expand both its collections and its terms of reference, but in the post-war period it entered a period of decline. In 1976 the museum opened [[Imperial War Museum Duxford|IWM Duxford]] at [[Duxford Aerodrome|Duxford airfield]] in [[Cambridgeshire]], and in 1978 the [[Royal Navy]] cruiser {{HMS|Belfast|C35|6}}, which is permanently berthed on the [[River Thames]] in central London, became a branch of the museum. In 1984, [[Cabinet War Rooms|Churchill War Rooms]], an underground wartime command centre in [[Westminster]], were opened to the public. In 2002 [[Imperial War Museum North|IWM North]] opened in [[Trafford]], [[Greater Manchester]], the fifth branch of the museum and the first in the north of England. From the 1980s onwards, the museum's Southwark building underwent a series of multimillion-pound redevelopments, the latest of which was completed in 2022. 

The museum's collections include [[archives]] of personal and official documents, [[photographs]], [[film]] and [[video]] material, and [[oral history]] recordings, an extensive [[library]], a large [[art]] collection, and examples of military vehicles and aircraft, equipment, and other artefacts.

The museum is funded by government grants, charitable donations, and revenue generation through commercial activity such as retailing, licensing, and publishing. General admission is free to IWM London (although specific exhibitions require the purchase of a ticket) and IWM North, but an admission fee is levied at the other branches. The museum is an [[exempt charity]] under the Charities Act 1993 and a [[non-departmental public body]] under the [[Department for Culture, Media and Sport]]. As of April 2024, the chairman of the trustees is [[Guy Weston]]. Since May 2023, Caro Howell has served as the museum's director-general <ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.iwm.org.uk/corporate/executive-leadership-team | title=Our Executive Leadership Team }}</ref>

==History of the museum==
===Establishment: 1917–1921===
[[File:Alfred Mond.jpg|alt=Head and shoulders shot of a bald, moustached man looking into the camera.|thumb|upright|left|Sir Alfred Mond, photographed between 1910 and 1920]]
On 27 February 1917 [[Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett|Sir Alfred Mond]], a Liberal MP and First Commissioner of Works, wrote to the Prime Minister [[David Lloyd George]] to propose the establishment of a National War Museum. This proposal was accepted by the [[War cabinet#United Kingdom|War Cabinet]] on 5 March 1917 and the decision announced in ''[[The Times]]'' on 26 March. A committee was established, chaired by Mond, to oversee the collection of material to be exhibited in the new museum.<ref>{{cite journal |issn=0022-0094 |author=Kavanagh, Gaynor |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |title=Museum as Memorial: The origins of the Imperial War Museum |volume=23 |issue=1 |date=January 1988 |jstor=260869 |pages=77–97 [81] |doi=10.1177/002200948802300105|s2cid=159747045 }}</ref><ref>'National War Museum. The Collection of Relics And Souvenirs', ''The Times'', 26 March 1917 Issue 41436, page 5 column C</ref>

This National War Museum Committee set about collecting material to illustrate Britain's war effort by dividing into subcommittees examining such subjects as the Army, the Navy, the production of [[munitions]], and [[Women's roles in the World Wars|women's war work]].<ref>Kavanagh 1988 p.82</ref> There was an early appreciation of the need for exhibits to reflect personal experience in order to prevent the collections becoming dead relics. [[Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington|Sir Martin Conway]], the museum's first director general, said that exhibits must "be vitalised by contributions expressive of the action, the experiences, the valour and the endurance of individuals".<ref>Kavanagh 1988 p.83</ref> The museum's first [[curator]] and secretary was [[Charles ffoulkes]], who had previously been curator of the [[Royal Armouries]] at the [[Tower of London]].<ref>James Mann, 'ffoulkes, Charles John (1868–1947)’, rev. William Reid, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33120, accessed 22 June 2009]</ref> In July 1917 Mond made a visit to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] in order to study how best to organise the museum's growing collection. While in France he met French government ministers, along with Field Marshal [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Sir Douglas Haig]], [[Commander-in-chief|Commander-in-Chief]] (C-in-C) of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]] (BEF) on the Western Front, who reportedly took great interest in his work.<ref>'The War Museum. Sir Alfred Mond's visit to the front', ''The Times'', 24 July 1917, Issue 41538, page 3 column C</ref> In December 1917 the name was changed to the ''Imperial'' War Museum after a resolution from the India and Dominions Committee of the museum.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v76LEm-Tc2wC&q=Interim+Report+Crawford+Committee&pg=PA145 |title=Museums and the First World War |page=137 |author=Kavanagh, Gaynor |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=1994|isbn=0-7185-1713-X |access-date=30 January 2012}}</ref>

{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title = Imperial War Museum Act 1920
| type = Act
| parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title = An Act to make provision for the management of the Imperial War Museum and for other purposes connected therewith.
| year = 1920
| citation = [[10 & 11 Geo. 5]]. c. 16
| introduced_commons = 
| introduced_lords = 
| territorial_extent = 
| royal_assent = 2 July 1920
| commencement = 
| expiry_date = 
| repeal_date = 
| amends = 
| replaces = 
| amendments = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation = 
| status = 
| legislation_history = 
| theyworkforyou = 
| millbankhansard = 
| original_text = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/10-11/16/enacted
| revised_text = 
| use_new_UK-LEG = yes
| UK-LEG_title = Imperial War Museum Act 1920
| collapsed = yes
}}
The museum was opened by King [[George V]] at [[the Crystal Palace]] on 9 June 1920. During the opening ceremony, Sir Alfred Mond addressed the King on behalf of the committee, saying that "it was hoped to make the museum so complete that every one who took part in the war, however obscurely, would find therein an example or illustration of the sacrifice he or she made" and that the museum "was not a monument of military glory, but a record of toil and sacrifice".<ref>'The Greatest War Memorial. Opening by the King. Human Interest at the Crystal Palace'. ''The Times'', 10 June 1920, Issue 42433, page 11 column D</ref> Shortly afterwards the '''{{visible anchor|Imperial War Museum Act 1920}}''' ([[10 & 11 Geo. 5]]. c. 16) was passed and established a board of trustees to oversee the governance of the museum. To reflect the museum's Imperial remit the board included appointees of the governments of [[India]], [[South Africa]], [[Canada]], [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]].<ref name="iwm1920"/> While the act was being debated, some [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|parliamentarians]] felt that the museum would perpetuate an undesirable war spirit and [[Joseph Kenworthy, 10th Baron Strabolgi|Lieutenant-Commander Joseph Kenworthy]] MP said that he would "refuse to vote a penny of public money to commemorate such suicidal madness of civilisation as that which was shown in the late War".<ref>Hansard, 12 April 1920 ''Imperial War Museum Bill'' HC Deb 12 April 1920 vol 127 cc1465-9 [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1920/apr/12/imperial-war-museum-bill Hansard 1803–2005] Accessed 22 March 2009.</ref> On the [[August Bank Holiday]] 1920, the first public holiday since the museum's opening, 94,179 visitors were received,<ref name="tpyf">{{cite web |url=http://www.theirpast-yourfuture.org.uk/upload/pdf/Imperial_War_Museum_-_HN.pdf |title=Learning Resources for Teaching History – Key Stages 3 and 4 – The Imperial War Museum |author=Their Past Your Future |publisher=Imperial War Museum |access-date=18 March 2011 |archive-date=19 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719014550/http://www.theirpast-yourfuture.org.uk/upload/pdf/Imperial_War_Museum_-_HN.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and by November 1921, 2,290,719 had visited the museum.<ref>'Public And Crystal Palace. Full Benefit Later', ''The Times'', 15 November 1921, Issue 42878, page 5 column D</ref>

===Relocation 1924–1936{{anchor|Bethlem Hospital (Amendment) Act 1931}}===
[[File:Imperial Institute.jpg|thumb|left|The Imperial Institute, South Kensington, where the museum was located from 1924 to 1936]]
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Bethlem Hospital (Amendment) Act 1931
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act to confirm certain agreements entered into by the Commissioners of Works with a view to the acquisition for the purposes of the Imperial War Museum of a part of the premises vested by the Bethlem Hospital Act 1926 in the London County Council as an open space and to authorise the retention and adaption of certain of the existing buildings on the said premises and for purposes consequential thereon.
| year                  = 1931
| citation              = [[21 & 22 Geo. 5]]. c. lxiii
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 31 July 1931
| commencement          = 31 July 1931
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = current
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/Geo5/21-22/63/pdfs/ukla_19310063_en.pdf
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}

In 1924 the museum moved to the [[Imperial Institute]] building (demolished in the 1950s and 1960s to make way for [[Imperial College]]) in South Kensington. While this location was more central and in a prestigious area for museums, the accommodation itself proved cramped and inadequate<ref>'The Imperial War Museum: Lack of Accommodation',''The Times'' 25 August 1933 Issue 46532, page 13 column E</ref> and in 1936 a new permanent location was found south of the [[River Thames]] in Southwark. The building, designed by [[James Lewis (architect)|James Lewis]]<ref>Peter Leach, 'Lewis, James (1750/51–1820)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/37672 Accessed 12 March 2009]</ref> was the former Bethlem Royal Hospital which had been vacated following the hospital's relocation to Beckenham in Kent. The site was owned by [[Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere|Lord Rothermere]], who had originally intended to demolish the building to provide a public park in what was a severely overcrowded area of London. Eventually the central portion of the hospital building was retained.<ref name=":0">Conway was addressing the [[House of Lords]] and his words recorded in [[Hansard]]. Quoted in {{cite journal |author1=Cooke, Steven |author2=Jenkins, Lloyd |date=December 2001 |title=Discourses of Regeneration in Early Twentieth-Century Britain: From Bedlam to the Imperial War Museum |journal=Area |volume=33 |issue=4 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing for The Royal Geographical Society |jstor=20004179 |issn=0004-0894 |pages=382–390 [387] |doi=10.1111/1475-4762.00044|bibcode=2001Area...33..382C }}</ref>

The two extensive wings were removed and the resulting space named [[Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park]], after Lord Rothermere's mother. Sir Martin Conway described the building as "...a fine building, really quite noble building, with a great portico, a distinguishing dome, and two great wings added to it for the accommodation of lunatics no longer required. This particular building can be made to contain our collection admirably, and we shall preserve from destruction quite a fine building which otherwise will disappear".<ref name=":0" /> The "distinguishing dome" was added by [[Sydney Smirke]] in 1846 and housed the hospital's chapel.<ref>''Imperial War Museum London'' (guidebook), (London: Imperial War Museum, 2009) pp. 5 {{ISBN|978-1-904897-95-8}}</ref> The museum was reopened by the Duke of York (later [[King George VI]]) in its new accommodation on 7 July 1936.

===Second World War and after: 1939–1966===
With the outbreak of the [[Second World War]] in 1939, the museum began to collect material documenting the conflict.<ref>'Imperial War Museum: Collection of war relics', ''The Times'' 14 May 1940 Issue 48615, page 4 column F</ref> In November 1939, during the "[[Phoney War]]", the museum appeared in the opening sequence of the [[GPO Film Unit]] production ''The First Days'', in which children are seen playing on some of the museum's German artillery pieces captured during the First World War.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060021634
|author=[[Alberto Cavalcanti]] (director)/[[GPO Film Unit]]
|date=November 1939
|title=the FIRST DAYS
|work=Imperial War Museum Collection Search
|publisher=Imperial War Museum
|access-date= 12 October 2012}}</ref> With the [[Dunkirk evacuation]] in May–June 1940, the British Army's shortage of equipment saw eighteen of the museum's artillery pieces return to military service.<ref name="charman103"/> The museum's trench clubs were used by the [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]], while other items such as sights and optical instruments were returned to the Ministry of Supply. The museum refused to return some historic items such as a naval gun from {{HMS|Lance|1914|6}} (which had fired Britain's first shot of the First World War) or a gun served by [[Victoria Cross]]-winning boy seaman [[Jack Cornwell]].<ref name="charman103">{{cite book |last1=Charman |first1=Terry |title=''A Museum of Man's Greatest Lunatic Folly: The Imperial War Museum and its Commemoration of the Great War 1917–2008'' in A Part of History: Aspects of the British Experience of the First World War |year=2008 |publisher=Continuum  |location=London |isbn=978-0-8264-9813-7 |page=103}}</ref> The museum was closed for the duration of the war in September 1940 with the onset of [[the Blitz]]. On 31 January 1941 the museum was struck by a ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' bomb which fell on the naval gallery. A number of ship models were damaged by the blast and a [[Short Type 184]] seaplane, which had flown at the [[Battle of Jutland]], was destroyed.<ref name="IWMLguide2">''Imperial War Museum London'' (guidebook), (London: Imperial War Museum, 2009) pp. 2 {{ISBN|978-1-904897-95-8}}</ref> While closed to the public the museum's building was used for a variety of purposes connected to the war effort, such as a repair garage for government motor vehicles, a centre for Air Raid Precautions civil defence lectures and a fire fighting training school.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/conColObject.6551
|work=archive.iwm.org.uk
|author=Imperial War Museum
|access-date=1 April 2013
|title=Reopening of the Imperial War Museum, London after the Second World War 1946 (D 29420, caption)
|archive-date=23 April 2013
|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130423192730/http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/conColObject.6551
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

In October 1945 the museum mounted a temporary exhibition, the first since the end of the war in August, which showcased technologies developed by the [[Petroleum Warfare Department]]. These included the submarine fuel pipeline [[Operation Pluto|PLUTO]], the fog dispersal method [[Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation|FIDO]], and flame weapons such as the [[Churchill Crocodile]] and Wasp [[Universal Carrier]].<ref>'Petroleum Warfare Exhibition: Secrets of Crocodile And Wasp', ''The Times'', 5 October 1945, Issue 50265, page 7 column D</ref> Due to bomb damage to the building and exhibits, the museum was obliged to reopen its galleries piecemeal and opened a portion of its galleries in November 1946.<ref name="IWMLguide2"/><ref name="Imperial War Museum page 7">'Imperial War Museum: Memorial and Record of Deeds in Two World Wars', ''The Times'' 31 January 1953 Issue 52534, page 7 column E</ref> A third of the galleries were opened in 1948 and a further wing opened in 1949.<ref>'New Exhibits in War Museum Galleries Reopened',''The Times'', 31 August 1948, Issue 51164, page 6 column E</ref><ref>'Relics of Two World Wars Museum Wing Reopened', ''The Times'', 23 February 1949, Issue 51313, page 6 column E</ref> In 1953, with Commonwealth forces engaged in [[Korean War|Korea]] and [[Malayan Emergency|Malaya]] the museum began its current policy of collecting material from all modern conflicts in which British or Commonwealth forces were involved.<ref name="IWMLguide2"/> Despite this expansion of remit, the early postwar period was a period of decline for the museum. [[Noble Frankland]], the museum's director from 1960 to 1982, described the museum's galleries in 1955 as appearing "dingy and neglected [and in a] dismal state of decay" the museum's "numerous stunning exhibits" notwithstanding.<ref>Frankland, Noble (1998) ''History at War: The Campaigns of an Historian'' (London: Giles de la Mare) p. 160 {{ISBN|978-1-900357-10-4}}</ref>

===Redevelopment and expansion: 1966–2012===
[[File:15inchgunsatImperialWarMuseumLondon.jpg|thumb|15-inch guns outside the museum; the nearer gun from [[HMS Ramillies (07)|HMS ''Ramillies'']], the other from [[HMS Resolution (09)|HMS ''Resolution'']]]]

In 1966 the museum's Southwark building was extended to provide collections storage and other facilities, the first major expansion since the museum had moved to the site. The development also included a purpose-built cinema.<ref>'Cinema For War Films Opens', ''The Times'', 2 November 1966, Issue 56778, page 16 column B</ref> In 1967 the museum acquired a pair of [[BL 15-inch Mk I naval gun|15-inch naval guns]]. One had been mounted on the [[Royal Navy]]'s [[HMS Ramillies (07)|HMS ''Ramillies'']] and the other on both [[HMS Resolution (09)|HMS ''Resolution'']] and [[HMS Roberts (F40)|HMS ''Roberts'']]. Both had been fired in action during the Second World War. They went on permanent display outside the museum in May 1968.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.2492 |title=Naval guns, 15-inch |author=Imperial War Museum |work=archive.iwm.org.uk |access-date=25 February 2012 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150203155754/http%3A//archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.2492 |archive-date=3 February 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The acquisition of these guns, representative of the [[dreadnought]] era of British [[battleship]]s, led the museum to seek to acquire a [[BL 6-inch Mk XXIII naval gun|6-inch]] triple turret that would be representative of a number of classes of British [[cruiser]]s.<ref name="Wingate101">{{cite book |title=In Trust for the Nation: HMS Belfast 1939–1972 |last=Wingate |first=John |year=2004 |publisher=Imperial War Museum |location=London |isbn=1-901623-72-6 |page=101}}</ref> This would eventually lead to the preservation of the Royal Navy [[light cruiser]] {{HMS|Belfast|C35|6}}, which became a branch of the museum in 1978.<ref>Wingate 2004, p.101–102</ref>
Later in 1968 on 13 October the museum was attacked by an [[arsonist]], Timothy John Daly, who claimed he was acting in protest against the exhibition of [[militarism]] to children. He caused damage valued at approximately £200,000, not counting the loss of irreplaceable books and documents. On his conviction in 1969 he was sentenced to four years in prison.<ref>Marshall, Rita 'War museum damaged by arson', ''The Times'' 14 October 1968, Issue no. 57381, p. 1</ref><ref>'Museum fire youth gets four years', ''The Times'', 23 January 1969, Issue 57466, page 3 column G</ref>
[[File:V-1 flying bomb on display at Imperial War Museum.jpg|thumb|left|[[V-1 flying bomb]] on display]]
In 1969 RAF Duxford, a [[Royal Air Force]] fighter airfield in [[Cambridgeshire]] was declared surplus to requirements by the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]]. Needing further space, the museum duly requested permission to use part of the site as temporary storage. The entire site was later transferred to the museum in February 1976 and Duxford, now referred to as [[Imperial War Museum Duxford]] became the museum's first branch.<ref name=Frankland>{{cite book | last = Frankland | first = Noble | title = History at War | publisher = Giles de la Mare | location = London | year = 1999 | isbn = 978-1-900357-10-4 | pages = 205–208 }}</ref> Also during the 1970s the government raised the possibility of the museum taking over the historic [[Cabinet War Rooms]] in [[Whitehall]]. The museum was reluctant due to its new commitments related to Duxford and HMS ''Belfast'', but agreed in 1982.<ref name="Holmes"/>

By 1983 the museum was again looking to redevelop the Southwark site and approached engineering firm [[Arup Group|Arup]] to plan a phased programme of works that would expand the building's exhibition space, provide appropriate environmental controls to protect collections, and improve facilities for visitors. The following year, in April 1984, the Cabinet War Rooms were opened to the public as a branch of the museum.

The first phase of the works to the Southwark building started in 1986 and were completed in 1989, during which time the museum was closed to the public. The work included the conversion of what was previously the hospital's courtyard into a centrepiece Large Exhibits Gallery. This gallery featured a strengthened ground floor (to support the weight of very heavy exhibits), a first floor [[mezzanine (architecture)|mezzanine]] and second storey viewing balcony. Into this space were placed tanks, artillery pieces, vehicles, ordnance and aircraft from the First World War to the [[Falklands War]].<ref name=arupjournal>{{cite journal
 |last1       = Pearce
 |first1      = David
 |last2       = Penton
 |first2      = Annelise
 |year        = 2002
 |title       = The Imperial War Museum, London – Stage 3
 |journal     = The Arup Journal
 |volume      = 37
 |issue       = 2
 |pages       = 42–47
 |publisher   = [[Arup Group|Arup]]
 |access-date  = 25 March 2012
 |url         = http://www.arup.com/_assets/_download/download66.pdf
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20130603062340/http://www.arup.com/_assets/_download/download66.pdf
 |archive-date = 3 June 2013}}</ref> For some years the museum was marketed as "The ''new'' Imperial War Museum".<ref>''The'' new ''Imperial War Museum'' (guidebook, 1992), London: Imperial War Museum.{{ISBN|0-901627-50X}}</ref> This atrium, with its concentration of military hardware, has been described as "the biggest boys' bedroom in London".<ref>Karpf, Anne (2 June 2000) [[The Guardian]] [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/jun/02/features11.g21 Bearing Witness]. Retrieved 11 July 2009</ref> This first phase cost £16.7&nbsp;million (of which £12&nbsp;million was provided by the government) and the museum was reopened by [[Elizabeth II|The Queen]] on 29 June 1989.<ref>Hansard, 17 July 1989 ''Imperial War Museum – HC Deb 17 July 1989 vol 157 cc13-4'' [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1989/jul/17/imperial-war-museum#S6CV0157P0_19890717_HOC_91 Hansard 1803 –2005]. Retrieved 16 March 2009.</ref> In 1990, the museum was awarded National Heritage [[Museum of the Year]].<ref>{{citation |title=Awards and Winners |url=http://nationalheritage.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/MOYA-list1.pdf |website=National Heritage |accessdate=28 June 2019}}</ref>
{{wideimage|Imperialwarmuseumatriumpanorama.jpg|1000px|The atrium in August 2009. Ground floor exhibits include: "Devil" a [[Mark V tank]]; "Ole Bill" an [[LGOC B-type]] bus, [[V-2 rocket|V-2]] and [[UGM-27 Polaris|Polaris]] missiles, 800 mm shell from [[Schwerer Gustav]], and (sand-coloured, extreme right) a [[M3 Lee#British Commonwealth service names and variants|Grant tank]] used by [[Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Bernard Montgomery]]. Suspended aircraft include a [[Sopwith Camel]], [[Heinkel He 162]] and (partially obscured) [[Supermarine Spitfire]] number R/6915, which flew in the [[Battle of Britain]] and shot down three aircraft.<ref name="warbird">{{cite web | url=http://www.warbirdregistry.org/spitregistry/spitfire-r6915.html | title=Spitfire/R6915 | publisher=Warbirds Resource Group | access-date=16 February 2012}}</ref>}}

In September 1992 the museum was the target of a [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] attack against London tourist attractions. Two [[incendiary device]]s were found in a basement gallery, but were extinguished by staff before the arrival of the [[London Fire Brigade|fire brigade]], and caused only minor damage.<ref>{{cite news |first=Terry |last=Kirby |title=Firebombs found at three tourist venues in London  |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/firebombs-found-at-three-tourist-venues-in-london-1552052.html |work=[[The Independent]] |date=18 September 1992 |access-date=6 April 2009 }}</ref><ref>Hansard, 4 March 1996 ''Terrorist Incidents – HC Deb 4 March 1996 vol 273 cc51-62W'' [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1996/mar/04/terrorist-incidents#S6CV0273P0_19960304_CWA_294 Hansard 1803–2005]. Retrieved 6 April 2009.</ref>

The second stage of the redevelopment of the Southwark building, during which the museum remained open to the public, was completed in 1994.<ref name=arupjournal/> During the 1990s, while these works were going on, the museum was also seeking to open a branch in the north of England. 71 sites were offered for consideration by 36 local councils and in January 1999 the then [[Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport|Culture Secretary]] [[Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury|Chris Smith]] formally launched a project to construct a new branch of the museum, [[Imperial War Museum North]], in [[Trafford]], [[Greater Manchester]].<ref name=Glancey>Glancey, Jonathan (22 April 2002) [[The Guardian]] [https://www.theguardian.com/arts/critic/feature/0,1169,688710,00.html War and peace and quiet]. Retrieved 14 April 2010</ref> 1999 also saw the Museum's first Poetry Residency, launching the long-lasting “Search and Create” initiative in which war-themed poems were installed among the artefacts to stimulate public and schools engagement.<ref name="PoetryHunt">{{cite web |title=First ever  Imperial War Museum Poet-in-Residence, 1999 |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030008396 |website=Imperial War Museums |access-date=4 August 2025}}</ref>

The following year, 2000, the final phase of the Southwark redevelopment was completed. The development included the installation of the museum's ''Holocaust Exhibition'' which was opened by the Queen on 6 June 2000. This was the first permanent exhibition dedicated to the [[Holocaust]] in a UK museum; its development had taken five years at a cost of £5&nbsp;million.<ref>For details of the development process of the Holocaust Exhibition see {{cite journal |last1=Bardgett |first1=Suzanne |date=June 2000 |title=Exhibiting Hatred |journal=History Today |volume=50 |issue=6 |pages=18–21 |issn=0018-2753 }}.</ref> Two years later, in July 2002, Imperial War Museum North was opened.

Between 2004 and 2010 the museum was a partner in a national learning project entitled "Their Past Your Future" (TPYF), part of the [[Big Lottery Fund]]'s Veterans Reunited programme to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.<ref name="VeteransEval">{{cite web
| url         = http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/er_eval_veterans_reunited2.pdf
| title       = Evaluation of the Veterans Reunited Programme
| author      = Morris Hargreaves Mcintyre
| date        = 27 October 2006
| location    = Manchester
| pages       = 5–6
| access-date  =2 March 2011
}}</ref> A partnership between the IWM, the [[Museums, Libraries and Archives Council]], and Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh museum authorities, phase one included a touring exhibition seen by more than two million people,<ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/er_eval_veterans_reunited2.pdf
| title       = Evaluation of the Veterans Reunited Programme
| author      = Morris Hargreaves Mcintyre
| date        = 27 October 2006
| location    = Manchester
| page        = 51
| access-date  =2 March 2011
}}</ref> overseas educational visits<ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/er_eval_veterans_reunited2.pdf
| title       = Evaluation of the Veterans Reunited Programme
| author      = Morris Hargreaves Mcintyre
| date        = 27 October 2006
| location    = Manchester
| page        = 77
| access-date  =2 March 2011
}}</ref> and further activities run by local authorities. A second phase took a wider 20th century historical remit; it comprised a learning programme using overseas visits and [[social media]], and a professional development scheme for educators.<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://archive.theirpast-yourfuture.org.uk/upload/pdf/Immersive_Learning_Prog_Evaluation_Report_Final.pdf
 |title        = You can't ask a textbook a question: An evaluation of The Immersive Learning Programme, Their Past Your Future 2, Imperial War Museum
 |author       = Morris Hargreaves Mcintyre
 |date         = 18 March 2010
 |location     = Manchester
 |pages        = 4–5
 |access-date  = 2 March 2011
 |archive-date = 25 October 2010
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20101025201107/http://archive.theirpast-yourfuture.org.uk/upload/pdf/Immersive_Learning_Prog_Evaluation_Report_Final.pdf
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref> A digital archive of the project,<ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.tpyfdigitalarchive.org.uk/
| title       = TPFY Digital Archive
| author      = [[University of London Computer Centre]]
| access-date  =2 March 2011}}</ref> online exhibitions and learning resources were also produced.<ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.theirpast-yourfuture.org.uk/
| title         = Their Past Your Future: Learning Resources for Teaching History
| author         = Imperial War Museum
| access-date         = 2 March 2011
| archive-date         = 27 April 2011
| archive-url         = https://web.archive.org/web/20110427060844/http://www.theirpast-yourfuture.org.uk/
| url-status         = dead
}}</ref>

In October 2011 the museum [[brand|rebranded]] itself as Imperial War Museums, the initials IWM forming the basis of a new corporate logo.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/press-release/New_Brand_Press_Release.pdf |title=IWM Launches New Brand |author=Imperial War Museum |date=3 October 2011 |work=iwm.org.uk |access-date=6 March 2012}}</ref>

In September 2011 the museum secured funding from [[NESTA]], the [[Arts and Humanities Research Council]] and [[Arts Council England]] to develop "social interpretation" systems to allow visitors to comment on, collect, and share museum objects via social media.<ref name=NESTA>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nesta.org.uk/press_releases/assets/features/eight_finalists_chosen_to_pioneer_digital_research_and_development_projects |date=26 September 2011 |author=[[NESTA]] |title=Eight finalists chosen to pioneer digital R&D projects |access-date=14 April 2012 |archive-date=13 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513032429/http://www.nesta.org.uk/press_releases/assets/features/eight_finalists_chosen_to_pioneer_digital_research_and_development_projects |url-status=dead }}</ref> These systems were incorporated in "A Family in Wartime", an exhibition at IWM London depicting British family life during the Second World War, which opened in April 2012.<ref name=socintguardian>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2012/apr/13/social-interpretation-imperial-war-museum |title=Innovation in arts and culture #2: the Social Interpretation project at IWM |author=Audas, Jane |date=13 April 2012 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=14 April 2012}}</ref>

===First World War centenary: 2014===
In August 2009 the museum announced the creation of the Imperial War Museum Foundation. Chaired by [[Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere|Jonathan Harmsworth]] the foundation was charged with raising funds to support the redevelopment of Imperial War Museum London's permanent galleries.<ref>Steel, Patrick (August 2009) 'IWM sets up foundation to fund gallery revamp' ''Museums Journal'' Volume 109 No. 8, p.  6</ref> In December 2010 plans were announced to redevelop IWM London's First World War gallery in time for the [[First World War centenary|conflict's centenary]] in 2014,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23905308-museum-put-on-new-war-footing-with-pound-71m-rebuild.do |title=Museum put on new war footing with £71m rebuild |author=Lydall, Ross |date=9 December 2010 |work=[[Evening Standard]] |access-date=9 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213022014/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23905308-museum-put-on-new-war-footing-with-pound-71m-rebuild.do |archive-date=13 December 2010}},</ref> and [[Prince William, Duke of Cambridge]] became the foundation's patron.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/prince_william_to_become_patron_of_the_imperial_war_museum_f_122973838.html |title=Prince William to become Patron of the Imperial War Museum Foundation's First World War Centenary Appeal |author=[[Clarence House]] |date=9 December 2010 |access-date=9 December 2010}}</ref> In a speech at IWM London on 11 October 2012, Prime Minister [[David Cameron]] announced an additional £5&nbsp;million of government funding to support the museum's redevelopment, as part of funding arrangements to facilitate national centenary commemorations.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/ww1-centenary
|title=Plans to mark World War I centenary announced
|date=11 October 2012
|access-date=12 October 2012
|work=number10.gov.uk
|publisher=HM Government}}</ref> The £40&nbsp;million redevelopment, designed by [[Foster and Partners]], provides new gallery spaces dedicated to the history of the First World War, a new central hall, easier navigation and improved visitor facilities, access and circulation.<ref name=transformiwm>{{cite web|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london/transforming-iwm-london |title=Transforming IWM London |author=Imperial War Museum |year=2013 |work=iwm.org.uk |access-date=15 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130906105945/http://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-london/transforming-iwm-london |archive-date=6 September 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dezeen.com/2014/07/16/foster-partners-first-world-war-galleries-imperial-war-museum |title=Foster + Partners adds First World War galleries to London's Imperial War Museum |year=2014 |publisher= [[Dezeen]] |access-date=6 December 2014}}</ref> In preparation for building work, a number of galleries were closed during September 2012,<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/press-release/PR-IWML-Oct-December2012-09-25.pdf
|title=Listings – IWM London: October, November and December 2012 [press release]
|date=25 September 2012
|access-date=15 September 2013
|publisher=IWM}}</ref> and by December 2012 over sixty large objects had been removed from the IWM London atrium for conservation at Duxford.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/press-release/IWML-PR_SpitfireLowering2.pdf
|title=Battle of Britain Spitfire set to leave IWM London before museum temporarily closes for six months from 2 January – July 2013 [press release]
|date=13 December 2012
|access-date=15 September 2013
|publisher=IWM}}</ref> To allow building work to go ahead, IWM London closed to the public on 2 January 2013. The museum partially reopened on 29 July 2013.<ref>{{cite web
|title=IWM London partially re-opens [press release]
|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/press-release/PR-IWM-London-Re-opens-partially.pdf
|date=29 July 2013
|access-date=15 September 2013
|publisher=IWM}}</ref>

IWM London was formally reopened on 17 July 2014 by [[Prince William, Duke of Cambridge]].{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

{{wideimage|IWM 2014 5760.jpg|500px|The new atrium, July 2014. The exhibits include a [[Supermarine Spitfire]], a [[V-1 flying bomb]], a [[V-2 rocket]], a [[Harrier jump jet]], and [[Jeremy Deller]]'s ''Baghdad, 5 March 2007'', the wreckage of a car destroyed by a bomb during the [[Iraq War]].}}


All of the sites of the Imperial War Museum were closed to the public from 17 March to 31 July 2020 inclusive, owing to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref name=COVID>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forcesnews.com/news/imperial-war-museums-welcome-visitors-back-after-lockdown |title=Imperial War Museums Welcome Visitors Back After Lockdown |date=1 August 2020 |via=forcesnews.com}}</ref> A further shutdown, for the same reasons, was in place from 16 December 2020 to 18 May 2021 inclusive.<ref name=COVID2021>{{Cite web|url=https://the-past.com/news/iwm-announces-reopening-dates-with-missingmuseums-campaign/ |title=IWM announces reopening dates with #MissingMuseums campaign |date=8 April 2021 |via=the-past.com}}</ref>

==Branches==
From the 1970s onwards the Imperial War Museum began to expand onto other sites. The first branch, [[Imperial War Museum Duxford]] opened to the public on a regular basis in June 1976.<ref>Garvey, Jude (1982) ''A guide to the transport museums of Great Britain'' (London: Pelham Books) 0720714044 p. 100</ref>  {{HMS|Belfast|C35|6}} became a branch of the museum in 1978.<ref name="Wingate">{{cite book |title=In Trust for the Nation: HMS Belfast 1939–1972 |last=Wingate |first=John |year=2004 |publisher=Imperial War Museum |location=London |isbn=1-901623-72-6 |page=Postscript}}</ref> The [[Cabinet War Rooms|Churchill War Rooms]] opened in 1984,<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Short History of The Cabinet War Rooms|url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/a-short-history-of-the-cabinet-war-rooms|access-date=2021-03-20|website=Imperial War Museums|language=en}}</ref> and [[Imperial War Museum North]] in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web|title=THE OPENING OF IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM NORTH, 24 JULY 2002 [Allocated Title]|url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060024397|access-date=2021-03-20|website=Imperial War Museums|language=en}}</ref>

===Imperial War Museum London===

====Architecture and layout====
[[File:BethlemSteelEngraving1828 (no caption).png|thumb|left|A view of [[Bethlem Royal Hospital]] in 1828]]
The museum has occupied the former Bethlem Royal Hospital on [[Lambeth Road]] since 1936. The hospital building was designed by the hospital surveyor, James Lewis, from plans submitted by [[John Peter Gandy|John Gandy]] and other architects, and construction completed in October 1814. The hospital consisted of a range of buildings 580 feet long with a basement and three storeys, parallel to [[Lambeth Road]], with a central entrance under a [[portico]].<ref name=britishhistoryonline/>
[[File:Imperial War Museum 1.jpg|thumb|15-inch guns and copper dome]]
The building was substantially altered in 1835 by architect [[Sydney Smirke]]. In order to provide more space, he added blocks at either end of the frontage, and galleried wings on either side of the central portion. He also added a small single-storey lodge, still in existence, at the [[Lambeth Road]] gate. Later, between 1844 and 1846, the central [[cupola]] was replaced with a copper-clad dome in order to expand the [[chapel]] beneath. The building also featured a theatre in a building to the rear of the site.<ref name=britishhistoryonline>{{cite book |editor1-first=Ida |editor1-last=Darlington |title=[[Survey of London]]: volume 25: St George's Fields (The parishes of St. George the Martyr Southwark and St. Mary Newington) |chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=65447 |access-date=29 January 2012 |year=1955 |publisher=[[British History Online]] |pages=76–80 |chapter=Bethlem Hospital (Imperial War Museum)}}</ref>

The building remained substantially unchanged until vacated by the hospital in 1930. After the [[Freehold (English law)|freehold]] was purchased by [[Lord Rothermere]], the wings were demolished to leave the original central portion (with the dome now appearing disproportionately tall) and Smirke's later wings. When the museum moved into the building in 1936 the ground floor of the central portion was occupied by the principal art gallery, with the east wing housing the Naval gallery and the west wing the Army gallery. The Air Force gallery was housed in the former theatre. The first floor comprised further art galleries (including rooms dedicated to [[Sir William Orpen]] and [[Sir John Lavery]]), a gallery on [[Women's roles in the World Wars|women's war work]], and exhibits relating to transport and signals. The first floor also housed the museum's photograph collection. The second floor housed the museum's library in its west wing, and in the east wing the [[map]] collection and stored pictures and drawings.<ref>'War Museum in Its New Home – Arrangement of the Exhibits', ''The Times'' 16 June 1936, Issue 47402, page 14 column B</ref> This division of exhibits by service, and by civil or military activity, persisted until a wide-ranging redisplay of the galleries from the 1960s onwards. In September 1972 the building received Grade II [[listed building]] status.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1385640 |desc=Imperial War Museum |access-date=8 January 2012}}</ref>
[[File:Supermarine Spitfire at Imperial War Museum London.jpg|thumb|Top view of the Supermarine Spitfire]]
The original hospital building is now largely occupied by corporate offices. The 1966 extension houses the library, art store, and document archives while the 1980s redevelopments created exhibition space over five floors. The first stage created 8,000&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup> of gallery space of which 4,600&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup> was new, and the second provided a further 1,600&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup>.<ref name=arupjournal/> The final phase, the Southwest Infill, was partly funded by a £12.6&nbsp;million grant from the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]]<ref>Heritage Lottery Fund – [http://www.hlf.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B85BA647-2141-45B9-9E64-6797848763E2/0/10WW2FACTSHEET.pdf Second World War 60 Years On: remembering, learning, commemorating] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325204433/http://www.hlf.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B85BA647-2141-45B9-9E64-6797848763E2/0/10WW2FACTSHEET.pdf |date=25 March 2009 }} Accessed 10 March 2009.</ref> and provided 5,860m<sup>2</sup> of gallery space and educational facilities over six floors.<ref>Duncan, Sue (29 November 2001) ''The Architects' Journal'' [http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/home/sensitive-choices/185822.article Sensitive choices]. Retrieved 14 July 2009</ref> Before the 2013–14 redevelopment, the basement was occupied by permanent galleries on the First and Second World Wars, and of conflicts after 1945. The ground floor comprised the atrium, cinema, temporary exhibition spaces, and visitor facilities. The first floor included the atrium mezzanine, education facilities, and a permanent gallery, ''Secret War'', exploring [[special forces]], [[espionage]] and [[covert operation]]s. The second floor included the atrium viewing balcony, two art galleries, a temporary exhibition area and the permanent ''Crimes against Humanity'' exhibition. The third floor housed the permanent ''Holocaust Exhibition'', and the fourth floor, a [[vault (architecture)|vaulted]] roof space, accommodated the Lord Ashcroft Gallery. Opened in November 2010 the gallery exhibits the museum's [[Victoria Cross]] (VC) and [[George Cross]] collection, alongside the private VC collection amassed by [[Michael Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft|Michael Ashcroft]], 241 medals in total.<ref name=arupjournal/><ref>Imperial War Museum (2009) [http://london.iwm.org.uk/upload/pdf/IWML_Floorplan_August_09.pdf Imperial War Museum London map] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718111519/http://london.iwm.org.uk/upload/pdf/IWML_Floorplan_August_09.pdf |date=18 July 2011 }} Accessed 12 April 2010.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%26+heritage/war+%26+conflict/art312514 |title=Extraordinary stories revealed as the Imperial War Museum opens The Lord Ashcroft Gallery |first=Richard |last=Moss |date=9 November 2010 |publisher=[[Culture24]] |access-date=12 November 2010 |archive-date=13 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101113033404/http://www.culture24.org.uk/history+%26+heritage/war+%26+conflict/art312514 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Lord Ashcroft Collection was on loan for ten years,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/business/search-for-badges-of-honour-that-all-have-a-story-to-tell-1950635|title=Search for badges of honour that all have a story to tell|date=12 November 2010|access-date=26 February 2025|newspaper=The Yorkshire Post}}</ref> was extended for a further five years because of COVID, and the termination of the loan was first confirmed in July 2024, resulting in the closure on 1 June 2025.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://museumsandheritage.com/advisor/posts/lord-ashcroft-sad-as-iwm-announces-closure-of-namesake-gallery/ |website=museumsandheritage.com |title=Lord Ashcroft ‘sad’ as IWM announces closure of namesake gallery |series=Openings & closures |date=26 February 2025 |access-date=28 February 2025}}</ref>

In August 2019, the museum announced plans to spend over £30 million on a new set of galleries over two floors at its London site covering the Holocaust and its importance in World War II.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/imperial-war-museums-30m-plan-to-show-how-holocaust-shaped-war-r30k5c33f|last1=Morrison|first1=Jonathan|last2=Burgess|title=Imperial War Museum's £30m plan to show how Holocaust shaped war|first2=Kaya|date=3 September 2019|access-date=3 September 2019|newspaper=The Times}}</ref> The galleries opened in October 2021 to replace the existing permanent exhibition.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dex|first=Robert|date=2021-10-12|title=Imperial War Museum opens multi-million pound Holocaust gallery|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/imperial-war-museum-multi-million-pound-holocaust-gallery-b960125.html|access-date=2021-12-21|website=www.standard.co.uk|language=en}}</ref>

====All Saints Annexe====
In 1989 the museum acquired the All Saints Annexe, a former hospital building in Austral Street off [[West Square]]. The 1867 building, which backs onto [[Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park]], was originally an orphanage opened by local [[philanthropist]] [[Charlotte Sharman]], then later used as a hospital. It housed the museum's photographic, film and sound archives, and offices.<ref>Archives in London and the M25 Area [http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=11830&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2= All Saints Hospital] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606130857/http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=11830&inst_id=118&nv1=search&nv2= |date=6 June 2011 }}. Retrieved 20 August 2009.</ref><ref>[http://www.ezitis.myzen.co.uk/allsaints.html Lost Hospitals of London]. Retrieved 14 April 2010.</ref>

===Imperial War Museum Duxford===
{{main|Imperial War Museum Duxford}}
[[File:Imperialwarmuseumduxfordairspacecrop.jpg|alt=Various aircraft, large and small, exhibited in a hangar.|thumb|AirSpace at [[Imperial War Museum Duxford|IWM Duxford]]]]Imperial War Museum Duxford, near the village of [[Duxford]] in [[Cambridgeshire]], is Britain's largest [[aviation museum]].<ref name=Holt>Holt, John (September 2008) 'Air play' ''Museums Journal'' Vol.108 No.9 pp. 32–35</ref> Duxford houses the museum's large exhibits, including nearly 200 [[aircraft]], military vehicles, artillery and minor naval vessels in seven main exhibitions buildings.<ref name=A&V>For a list of aircraft, vehicles and boats at Duxford, see {{cite web |date=November 2011 |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/public-document/IWMDuxford_Aircraft_Vehicles_List.pdf |title=IWM Duxford: Aircraft and Vehicles |publisher=Imperial War Museum |access-date=2 February 2012 |archive-date=24 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624145959/http://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/public-document/IWMDuxford_Aircraft_Vehicles_List.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The site also provides storage space for the museum's collections of film, photographs, documents, books and artefacts. The site accommodates a number of [[British Army]] regimental museums, including those of the [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]] and the [[Royal Anglian Regiment]].

Based on the historic [[Duxford Aerodrome]], the site was originally operated by the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) during the [[First World War]]. During the [[Second World War]] Duxford played a prominent role during the [[Battle of Britain]] and was later used by [[United States Army Air Forces]] fighter units in support of the [[Strategic bombing during World War II#US bombing in Europe|daylight bombing]] of Germany. Duxford remained an active RAF airfield until 1961. Many of Duxford's original buildings, such as [[hangar]]s used during the Battle of Britain, are still in use. A number of these buildings are of architectural or historic significance and over thirty have [[listed building]] status.<ref name=IWMDhistoric>Imperial War Museum Duxford (2009) [http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.5713 Historic Duxford] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091001151237/http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.5713 |date=1 October 2009 }}. Retrieved 15 September 2009.</ref> The site also features a number of purpose-built exhibition buildings, such as the [[Stirling Prize]]-winning American Air Museum, designed by [[Norman Foster (architect)|Sir Norman Foster]]. The site remains an active airfield and is used by a number of civilian flying companies, and hosts regular [[air show]]s. The site is operated in partnership with [[Cambridgeshire County Council]] and the Duxford Aviation Society, a charity formed in 1975 to preserve [[civil aircraft]] and promote appreciation of British civil aviation history.

===HMS ''Belfast'' (1938)===
{{Main|HMS Belfast (C35)}}
[[File:HMS Belfast 3.jpg|left|thumb|HMS ''Belfast'' at her berth in the [[Pool of London]]]]HMS ''Belfast'', a [[Town class cruiser (1936)|Town class cruiser]], was launched in 1938 and served throughout the [[Second World War]], participating in the December 1943 [[Battle of North Cape]] and firing some of the first shots of [[Operation Overlord]], the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. She saw further combat in the [[Korean War]]. Expected to be disposed of as scrap after she was decommissioned in 1963, in 1967 efforts were initiated to preserve ''Belfast'' as a museum ship. A joint committee of the Imperial War Museum, the [[National Maritime Museum]] and the [[Ministry of Defence (UK)|Ministry of Defence]] was established, and reported in June 1968 that preservation was practical. In 1971 the government decided against preservation, prompting the formation of the private HMS ''Belfast'' Trust to campaign for her to be saved for the nation. The Trust was successful in its efforts, and the government transferred the ship to the Trust in July 1971. Brought to London, she was moored on the [[River Thames]] near [[Tower Bridge]] in the [[Pool of London]]. Opened to the public in October 1971 ''Belfast'' became a branch of the Imperial War Museum on 1 March 1978, being acknowledged by the then [[Secretary of State for Education and Science]], [[Shirley Williams]], as "a unique demonstration of an important phase of our history and technology".<ref>
{{cite web |date=19 January 1978 |title=HMS "Belfast" |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1978/jan/19/hms-belfast#S5CV0942P0_19780119_CWA_145 |access-date=21 August 2009 |work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]}}
</ref> In service for 24 years HMS ''Belfast'' was in Frankland's opinion, capable of representing "a whole generation of [historical evidence]".<ref>Frankland, Noble (1998) ''History at War: The Campaigns of an Historian'' (London: Giles de la Mare) p. 204 {{ISBN|978-1-900357-10-4}}</ref>

In 2017, the name of the exhibit was changed to "HMS ''Belfast'' 1938" to reflect that one of the Royal Navy's new [[Type 26 frigate]]s had been given the name HMS ''Belfast''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.irishnews.com/news/2017/09/27/news/new-royal-navy-warship-to-be-named-hms-belfast-1147115/ |title=New Royal Navy warship to be named HMS Belfast |last=Young |first=David |date=27 September 2017 |newspaper=The Irish Times|publisher=Press Association |access-date=27 September 2017 }}</ref>

===Churchill War Rooms===
{{Main|Churchill War Rooms}}
[[File:MapRoomCabinetWarRoomsTrim.jpg|thumb|The Map Room of the [[Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms|Cabinet War Rooms]]]]
The Cabinet War Rooms is an underground complex that served as a British government command centre throughout the Second World War. Located beneath the [[HM Treasury|Treasury]] building in the [[Whitehall]] area of [[Westminster]], the facilities became operational in 1939 and were in constant use until their abandonment in August 1945 after the [[surrender of Japan]]. Their historical value was recognised early on, and the public were able to visit by appointment. However, the practicalities of allowing public access to a site beneath a working government office meant that only 4,500 of 30–40,000 annual applicants to visit the War Rooms could be admitted.<ref name=Holmes>Holmes, Richard (2009) ''Churchill's Bunker: The Secret Headquarters at the Heart of Britain's Victory'' (London: Profile Books Ltd) p. 193 {{ISBN|978-1-84668-225-4}}</ref> The museum agreed to take over the administration of the site in 1982,<ref name=Holmes/> a development keenly supported by the then Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]], an admirer of Britain's wartime Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]]. Thatcher opened the War Rooms in April 1984. In 2003 a further suite of rooms, used as accommodation by Churchill, his wife and close associates, were added to the museum. The restoration of these rooms, which since the war had been stripped out and used for storage, cost £7.5 million.<ref>Kennedy, Maev (9 April 2003) ''[[The Guardian]]'' [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/apr/09/arts.past Restored underground apartments opened to public]. Retrieved 28 July 2009.</ref> In 2005 the War Rooms were rebranded as the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, with 850&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup> of the site redeveloped as a biographical museum exploring Churchill's life. The development of the Churchill Museum cost a further £6 million. The centrepiece is a 15 m interactive table which enables visitors to access digitised material, particularly from the [[Churchill Archives Centre]], via an "electronic filing cabinet".<ref>Waterfield, Giles 'The Churchill Museum: Ministry of sound' ''Museum Practice'' No.30 (Summer 2005) pp. 18–21</ref> The museum was renamed the Churchill War Rooms in 2010.

===Imperial War Museum North===
{{Main|Imperial War Museum North}}
[[File:ImperialWarMuseumNorth02Trim.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Entrance of [[Imperial War Museum North]] in [[Manchester]]]]
The Imperial War Museum North was opened in [[Trafford]], [[Greater Manchester]], in 2002. It was the first branch of the museum outside southeast England, and the first to be purpose-built as a museum. Designed by architect [[Daniel Libeskind]], with Manchester-based architects Leach Rhodes Walker providing implementation services,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Imperial War Museum North, Manchester (United Kingdom)|url=https://www.sto.com/en/references/references-detailview_183.html|access-date=2021-03-20|website=Sto.com|language=en}}</ref> The Imperial War Museum North was Libeskind's first building in Britain. Libeskind's building, overlooking the [[Manchester Ship Canal]] at [[Salford Quays]], was based on the concept of a globe shattered by conflict into shards and reassembled. These shards, representing earth, air and water, give the building its shape.<ref>Studio Daniel Libeskind [http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/imperial-war-museum-north/ Imperial War Museum North] Accessed 16 July 2012</ref> Originally budgeted at £40 million, the museum was completed for £28.5 million after anticipated funding was not forthcoming. The museum was funded by local, national and European development agencies, by private donations and by [[Peel Holdings]], a local transport and property company which contributed £12.5 million.<ref>{{cite news |title=Peel Holdings milestones |url=http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/145/145053_peel_holdings_milestones.html |newspaper=[[Manchester Evening News]] |date=3 February 2005 |access-date=28 January 2012 |archive-date=20 April 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130420225214/http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/145/145053_peel_holdings_milestones.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Glancey, Jonathan (22 April 2002) ''Guardian Unlimited'' [https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4398707,00.html War and peace and quiet]. Retrieved 7 July 2009</ref>

[[File:Russian T38 - 85 (6264920102).jpg|thumb|[[T-34-85]] tank on display]]
The museum's first floor main gallery space houses the permanent exhibitions. These consist of a chronological display which runs around the gallery's 200m perimeter and six thematic displays in "silos" within the space. The walls of the gallery space are used as screens for the projection of an hourly audiovisual presentation, the Big Picture. The main gallery, described as cavernous and dramatic,<ref name=Herbert2>Herbert, Ian (3 July 2002) ''[[The Independent]]'' [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/libeskinds-war-museum-triumphs-over-costcutters-647083.html Libeskind's war museum triumphs over cost-cutters]{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}. Retrieved 9 October 2009.</ref><ref>Hughes, Matthew (Winter 2002) [[Institute of Historical Research]]: History in Focus [http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/War/articles/imp.html The Imperial War Museum (North): The Triumph of Style over Substance?]. Retrieved 9 October 2009.</ref> includes objects such as a Russian [[T-34]] tank, a [[United States Marine Corps]] [[AV-8A Harrier]] jet, and a British [[Ordnance QF 13 pounder|13-pounder]] field gun which fired the [[British Army]]'s first shot of the First World War.<ref>Worsley, Giles (29 June 2002) ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3579471/A-globe-ripped-to-pieces.html A globe ripped to pieces]. Retrieved 20 November 2009.</ref> The museum also hosts a programme of temporary exhibitions, mounted in a separate gallery.<ref>Martin, David 'Full metal jacket: Imperial War Museum North' ''Museum Practice'' No.21, December 2002, pp. 24–29</ref>

=== Retail Range and Online Shop ===
The '''Imperial War Museums (IWM) Retail Range and Online Shop''' is part of the commercial arm of [[Imperial War Museum|Imperial War Museums]], a British national museum group dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history of modern conflict. The retail operation encompasses physical shops at IWM’s five branches as well as a global e-commerce platform at shop.iwm.org.uk. All profits support IWM’s mission to record and share stories of those who have lived, fought, and died in conflict since 1914.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About IWM |url=https://shop.iwm.org.uk/pages/about-iwm |access-date=2025-11-13 |website=IWM Shop |language=en}}</ref>

==== History ====
IWM introduced retail as part of its visitor experience in the 20th century, later expanding into e-commerce to reach international audiences. The online shop was launched  in 2005 and moved to Shopify in 2025 to complement physical stores and provide access to exclusive collections, commemorative items, and educational resources. <ref>{{Cite web |title=About IWM |url=https://shop.iwm.org.uk/pages/about-iwm |access-date=2025-11-13 |website=IWM Shop |language=en}}</ref>

==== Product Range ====
The retail offer is curated to reflect IWM’s collections and themes, including:<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-10-21 |title=Imperial War Museums shop |url=https://shop.iwm.org.uk/ |access-date=2025-11-13 |website=IWM Shop |language=en}}</ref>

* '''[https://shop.iwm.org.uk/collections/books Books and Media]''': Guidebooks, historical texts, wartime novels covering WWI, WWII, and contemporary conflicts.
* '''[https://shop.iwm.org.uk/collections/aviation-clothing Clothing and Accessories]''': Aviation jackets, naval-inspired apparel, and seasonal ranges such as winter wear.
* '''[https://shop.iwm.org.uk/collections/scale-models-kits Collectibles and Models]''': Airfix and Revell kits, die-cast models, busts, and replica medals.
* '''[https://shop.iwm.org.uk/collections/military-mugs Homeware and Stationery]''': Mugs, kitchenware, calendars, and journals.
* '''[https://shop.iwm.org.uk/collections/poppy-gifts Jewellery and Gifts]''': Poppy-themed items, commemorative coins, and bespoke designs.
* '''[https://shop.iwm.org.uk/collections/scale-models-kits Children’s Range]''': Educational toys, books, and dress-up kits.
* '''[https://shop.iwm.org.uk/collections/christmas Seasonal Collections]''': Christmas decorations, gift sets, and themed ranges.

==== Role and Impact ====
Revenue from retail operations contributes directly to IWM’s conservation, research, and educational programs. The retail range is marketed as a way for visitors and online customers to engage with history beyond the galleries, offering tangible connections to narratives of war and remembrance.

==== Website ====
The official online shop is available at [https://shop.iwm.org.uk '''shop.iwm.org.uk''']

==Collections==
{{Category see also|Collection of the Imperial War Museum}}
[[File:General Bernard L. Montgomery watches his tanks move up. North Africa, November 1942. - NARA - 535939 (cropped) (cropped).tif|thumb|The museum's collection includes this photograph of [[Bernard Montgomery|Montgomery]] in his tank along with the tank, his command caravans, staff car<ref>Imperial War Museum [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193525 Photograph no. E 18980], [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000108 Montgomery's Grant tank], [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000280 office caravan], [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000281 bedroom caravan], [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000282 map caravan] and [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000249 staff car]. ''Imperial War Museum Collections Search''. Retrieved 28 January 2012.</ref> and his papers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=P20200 |title=Montgomery, Bernard Law (1887–1976) 1st Viscount Montgomery, Field Marshal  |author=The National Archives |year=2012 |work=National Register of Archives: Person details: Archive details |access-date=26 January 2012}}</ref><ref name="montgomerydocs"/>]]
The Imperial War Museum's original collections date back to the material amassed by the National War Museum Committee. The present departmental organisation came into being during the 1960s as part of Frankland's reorganisation of the museum. The 1970s saw [[oral history]] gain increasing prominence and in 1972 the museum created the Department of Sound Records (now the Sound Archive) to record interviews with individuals who had experienced the First World War. The museum maintains an [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search online database of its collections].<ref>For an overview of the museum's collections, see Bardgett, Suzanne 'Imperial War Museum and the history of war' at [http://www.history.ac.uk/makinghistory/resources/articles/IWM.html 'Making History' maintained by the Institute of Historical Research] accessed 17 December 2008</ref>

===Documents===
The museum's documents archive seeks to collect and preserve the private papers of individuals who have experienced modern warfare. The archive's holdings range from the papers of senior British and Commonwealth army, navy and air officers, to the letters, diaries and memoirs of lower-ranked servicemen and of civilians. The collection includes the papers of Field Marshals [[Bernard Montgomery]],<ref name="montgomerydocs">'Montgomery documents',''The Times'' 8 July 1982, Issue 61280, page 2 column A</ref> and [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|John French]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030007683 |title=Private Papers of Field Marshal Sir John French |author=Imperial War Museum |year=2012 |work=Imperial War Museum Collections Search |access-date=25 February 2012}}</ref> The archive also includes large collections of foreign documents, such as captured German Second World War documents previously held by the Cabinet Office Historical Section, Air Historical Branch and other British government bodies. The foreign collection also includes captured Japanese material transferred from the Cabinet Office. The collection also includes files on Victoria and George Cross recipients, and correspondence relating to the BBC documentary ''The Great War''.<ref>{{cite journal
 | last =Richards
 | first =Anthony
 | year =2004
 | title =Archive Report: The Department of Documents at the Imperial War Museum
 | journal =Contemporary British History
 | volume =18
 | issue =2
 | pages =103–112
 | publisher =Routledge
 | doi=10.1080/1361946042000227751
| s2cid =143657989
 }}</ref> The documents collection also includes the [[UK National Inventory of War Memorials]].<ref name=iwmdocs>{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections-research/about/documents
 |title        = About the Collections: Documents
 |author       = Imperial War Museum
 |year         = 2012
 |work         = iwm.org.uk
 |access-date  = 11 August 2012
 |archive-date = 7 October 2013
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20131007054102/http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections-research/about/documents
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref> In 2012 the museum reported its documents collection to contain 24,800 collections of papers.<ref name=iwm2012p62/>

===Art===
[[File:The Nuremberg Trial, 1946 (1946) (Art. IWM ART LD 5798).jpg|thumb|''The Nuremberg Trial'', 1946, by [[Laura Knight]]]]
The museum's art collection includes paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, and works in film, photography and [[sound art|sound]].<ref name=iwmart>{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections-research/about/art-design
 |title        = About the Collections: Art and Popular Design
 |author       = Imperial War Museum
 |year         = 2012
 |work         = iwm.org.uk
 |access-date  = 11 August 2012
 |archive-date = 16 May 2012
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120516103537/http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections-research/about/art-design
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref> The collection originated during the First World War, when the museum acquired works that it had itself commissioned, as well as works commissioned by the Ministry of Information's [[British War Memorials Committee]]. As early as 1920 the art collection held over 3,000 works<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Malvern |first1=Sue |date=Spring 2000 |title=War, Memory and Museums: Art and Artefact in the Imperial War Museum' |journal=History Workshop Journal |volume=49 |issue=49 |pages=177–203 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi= 10.1093/hwj/2000.49.177|jstor=4289665 }}</ref> and included pieces by [[John Singer Sargent]], [[Wyndham Lewis]], [[John Nash (artist)|John Nash]] and [[Christopher Nevinson]]. Notable First World War works include Sargent's ''[[Gassed (painting)|Gassed]]''<ref>{{cite web
 | url        = http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/23722
 | title      = ''Gassed'' (Art.IWM ART 1460)
 | work       = Imperial War Museum Collection Search
 | access-date =11 August 2012
}}</ref> and other works commissioned for an unbuilt [[Hall of Remembrance]].<ref name="IWMHoR">{{cite web|url =http://archive.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/95/collections/art/hall-of-remembrance.html|title =The Hall of Remembrance|publisher =The Imperial War Museum|access-date =2 June 2014|archive-date =26 February 2014|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20140226114019/http://archive.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/95/collections/art/hall-of-remembrance.html|url-status =dead}}</ref> The collection expanded again after the Second World War, receiving thousands of works sponsored by the Ministry of Information's [[War Artists' Advisory Committee]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Foss, Brian |title=Message and Medium: Government Patronage, National Identity and National Culture in British 1939–1945 |journal=Oxford Art Journal |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=14 |issue=2 |jstor=1360524 |issn=0142-6540 |year=1991 |pages=52–72 [70] |doi=10.1093/oxartj/14.2.52}}</ref>

In 1972 the museum established the Artistic Records Committee (since renamed the Art Commissions Committee) to commission artists to cover contemporary conflicts.<ref>{{cite web |author=Imperial War Museum |url=http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.909 |title=Contemporary War Artists: Introduction |work=archive.iwm.org.uk |access-date=25 February 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707230642/http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.909 |archive-date=7 July 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Commissioned artists include [[Ken Howard (artist)|Ken Howard]], [[Linda Kitson]], [[John Keane (artist)|John Keane]], [[Peter Howson]], [[Steve McQueen (director)|Steve McQueen]] (see [[Queen and Country (artwork)|''Queen and Country'']]) and [[Langlands & Bell]], responding to conflicts in Northern Ireland, the Falklands, the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.2478
 |title        = Falklands War 1982, Linda Kitson's artistic record
 |author       = Imperial War Museum
 |work         = archive.iwm.org.uk
 |access-date   = 11 August 2012
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150317072358/http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.2478
 |archive-date = 17 March 2015
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.2481
 |title        = Gulf War 1991, John Keane's artistic record
 |author       = Imperial War Museum
 |work         = archive.iwm.org.uk
 |access-date   = 11 August 2012
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150317072036/http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.2481
 |archive-date = 17 March 2015
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 | url        = http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/13892
 | title      = ''Cleansed, 1994'' (Art.IWM ART 16521)
 | work       = Imperial War Museum Collection Search
 | access-date =11 August 2012
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.artfund.org/queenandcountry/Queen_and_Country.html
 |title       = Queen and Country: A project by Steve McQueen
 |author      = The Art Fund
 |work        = artfund.org
 |access-date  = 11 August 2012
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120805232715/http://www.artfund.org/queenandcountry/Queen_and_Country.html
 |archive-date = 5 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.langlandsandbell.com/the-house-of-osama-bin-laden-video.html
 |title       = The House of Osama bin Laden
 |author      = Langlands & Bell
 |work        = langlandsandbell.com
 |access-date  = 11 August 2012
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120502104901/http://www.langlandsandbell.com/the-house-of-osama-bin-laden-video.html
 |archive-date = 2 May 2012}}</ref> The collection also includes over twenty thousand items of publicity material such as posters, postcards, and proclamations from both world wars, and more recent material such as posters issued by anti-war organisations such as the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]] and the [[Stop the War Coalition]].<ref name=iwmart/> The museum's collection is represented in digital resources such as the [[Visual Arts Data Service]] (VADS),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vads.ac.uk/collections/IWM.html |title=Imperial War Museum: Concise Art Collection |author=[[Visual Arts Data Service]] |year=2008}}; {{cite web |url=http://vads.ac.uk/collections/IWMPC.html |title=Imperial War Museum: Posters of Conflict}}; {{cite web |url=http://vads.ac.uk/collections/IWMSCW.html |title=Imperial War Museum: Spanish Civil War Poster Collection|publisher=[[University for the Creative Arts]] |access-date=11 August 2012}}</ref> and [[Google Art Project]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Google Art Project: Imperial War Museums |url=http://www.googleartproject.com/en-gb/collection/imperial-war-museum/museumview/ |work=[[Google Art Project]] |year=2012 |access-date=6 May 2012}}</ref> In 2012 the museum reported the total size of its art collection as 84,980 items.<ref name=iwm2012p62>{{cite book |title=Imperial War Museum Annual Report and Account 2011–2012 |last=Imperial War Museum |year=2012 |publisher=The Stationery Office |location=London |isbn=9780102976571 |page=62 |access-date=11 August 2012 |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/public-document/IWMAnnualReportAndAccount2011-12.pdf |archive-date=23 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523013956/http://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/public-document/IWMAnnualReportAndAccount2011-12.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Film===
[[File:The Battle of the Somme film image1.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|A still from the 1916 documentary and propaganda film [[The Battle of the Somme (film)|''The Battle of the Somme'']], preserved by the museum's film archive]]
The museum's Film and Video Archive is one of the oldest [[film archives]] in the world.<ref>'The world's first specialist—or non-fiction—film archive...is recognised as that of the Imperial War Museum'; editor's note in {{cite journal |last1=Trujillo |first1=Iván |date=October 2003 |issn=1609-2694 |editor=Daudelin, Robert |title=2003 FIAF Award to Ingmar Bergman |journal=Journal of Film Preservation |volume=66 |page=33 |publisher=Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film – FIAF |url=http://www.fiafnet.org/pdf/uk/04FIAF66.pdf |access-date=22 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725205356/http://www.fiafnet.org/pdf/uk/04FIAF66.pdf |archive-date=25 July 2011}}</ref><ref>'...perhaps the strongest claimant to being the first authentic, authorized film archive is Britain's Imperial War Museum' in {{cite journal |last1=Jeavons |first1=Clyde |date=April 2007 |issn=1609-2694 |editor=Daudelin, Robert |title=The Moving Image: Subject or Object? |journal=Journal of Film Preservation |volume=66 |page=25 |publisher=Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film – FIAF |url=http://www.fiafnet.org/pdf/uk/fiaf73.pdf |access-date=22 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725205456/http://www.fiafnet.org/pdf/uk/fiaf73.pdf |archive-date=25 July 2011}}</ref><ref>For the early history of the Imperial War Museum film archive, see {{cite journal |last1=Smither |first1=Roger |last2=Walsh |first2=David |year=2000 |title=Unknown Pioneer: Edward Foxen Cooper and the Imperial War Museum Film Archive 1919–1934 |journal=Film History |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=187–203 |issn=0892-2160 |publisher=Indiana University Press |jstor=3815371}}</ref> The archive preserves a range of historically significant film and video material, including the official British film record of the [[World War I|First World War]]. Notable among the archive's First World War holdings is [[The Battle of the Somme (film)|''The Battle of the Somme'']], a pioneering 1916 documentary film (which was inscribed on the [[UNESCO]] [[Memory of the World]] register in 2005), and ''Der Magische Gürtel'', a German 1917 propaganda film about the submarine [[SM U-35 (Germany)|''U-35'']].<ref>{{cite video| title =Der Magische Gürtel| medium =film| publisher =Europa Film Treasures| edition =2000 restoration| url =http://www.europafilmtreasures.eu/PY/269/see-the-film-the_enchanted_circle| at =00:44:30| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20091130023342/http://www.europafilmtreasures.eu/PY/269/see-the-film-the_enchanted_circle| archive-date =30 November 2009}}</ref> The archive's Second World War holdings include unedited film shot by British military cameramen, which document combat actions such as the British landings on D-Day in June 1944,<ref>{{cite journal
 | last = Haggith
 | first =Toby
 | year =2002
 | title =D-Day Filming: For Real. A Comparison of 'Truth' and 'Reality' in "Saving Private Ryan" and Combat Film by the British Army's Film and Photographic Unit
 | journal =Film History
 | volume =14
 | issue =3/4
 | pages =332–353
 | publisher =Indiana University Press
 | jstor=3815436
 | doi=10.2979/fil.2002.14.3-4.332
}}</ref> and the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945.<ref>{{cite journal
 | last =Caven
 | first =Hannah
 | year =2001
 | title =Horror in Our Time: Images of the concentration camps in the British media, 1945
 | journal =Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
 | volume =21
 | issue =3
 | pages =205–253
 | publisher =Routledge
 | doi =10.1080/01439680120069399
| s2cid =191470786
 }}<!--| access-date =12 August 2012--></ref>

The archive also holds government information films and propaganda features such as ''[[Target for Tonight]]'' (1941) and ''[[Desert Victory]]'' (1943). The archive's post-Second World War collections include material from the [[Korean War]], Cold War material, the former film library of [[NATO]], and material produced by the [[United Nations]] UNTV service in Bosnia. As an official repository under the 1958 Public Records Act, the archive continues to receive material from the Ministry of Defence. The archive also seeks to acquire amateur film taken by both service personnel and civilian cameramen.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.movinghistory.ac.uk/archives/iw/collection.html
 |title       = Imperial War Museum Film Archive
 |work        = Moving History: A guide to UK film and television archive in the public sector
 |publisher   = Arts and Humanities Research Board
 |access-date  = 12 August 2012
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120222091426/http://www.movinghistory.ac.uk/archives/iw/collection.html
 |archive-date = 22 February 2012}}</ref> Material from the collection was used in the production of TV documentary series such as [[The Great War (documentary)|''The Great War'']] and ''[[The World at War]]''. In 2012 the museum reported the size of its film archive as being in excess of 23,000 hours of film, video and digital footage.<ref name=iwm2012p62/> IWM participated in the national digitising project [[Unlocking Film Heritage]].

===Photographs===
The museum's Photograph Archive preserves photographs by official, amateur and professional photographers. The collection includes the official British photographic record of the two world wars; the First World War collection includes the work of photographers such as [[Ernest Brooks (photographer)|Ernest Brooks]] and [[John Warwick Brooke]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=e%20brooks&filter%5bwebCategory%5d%5b0%5d=%22photographs%22&filter%5bcontentDate%5d%5b0%5d=%22First%20World%20War%22&items_per_page=50 |access-date=28 August 2012 |title=Collection search for "e brooks" |work=Collection Search |publisher=Imperial War Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=j%20w%20brooke&filter%5bwebCategory%5d%5b0%5d=%22photographs%22&filter%5bcontentDate%5d%5b0%5d=%22First%20World%20War%22&items_per_page=50 |access-date=28 August 2012 |title=Collection search for "j w brooke" |work=Collection Search |publisher=Imperial War Museum}}</ref> The archive also holds 150,000 British [[aerial photography|aerial photographs]] from the First World War,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11667250 |date=2 November 2012 |author=Hudson, Alex |title=Flower beds that meant death for German WWI soldiers |work=BBC News |access-date=8 September 2012}}</ref> the largest collection of its kind.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aerial.rcahms.gov.uk/links/ |title=The National Collection of Aerial Photography: Links |work=aerial.rcahms.gov.uk |publisher=[[Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland]] |access-date=8 September 2012}}</ref> The Second World War collection includes the work of photographers such as [[Bill Brandt]], [[Cecil Beaton]]<ref>'Beaton's record of war revived', ''The Times'', 7 October 1981, Issue 61049, page 7 column C</ref> and [[Bert Hardy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=bert%20hardy&submit=&items_per_page=50&filter%5bmakerString%5d%5b0%5d=%22Hardy%2C%20Bert%22|access-date=28 August 2012 |title=Collection search for "bert hardy" |work=Collection Search |publisher=Imperial War Museum}}</ref> Like the Film Archive, the Photograph Archive is an official repository under the 1958 Public Records Act, and as such continues to receive material from the Ministry of Defence. In 2012 the museum reported the size of its photographic holdings as approximately 11&nbsp;million images in 17,263 collections.<ref name=iwm2012p62/>

===Exhibits===
The museum's exhibits collection includes a wide range of objects, organised into numerous smaller collections such as uniforms, badges, insignia and flags (including a [[Canadian Red Ensign]] carried at [[Battle of Vimy Ridge|Vimy Ridge]] in 1917,<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30017173
 |title=Flag, Red Ensign, Canadian
 |work=Collection Search
 |publisher=Imperial War Museum
 |access-date=25 August 2012
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523001533/http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30017173
 |archive-date=23 May 2013
}}</ref> a [[Union flag]] from the 1942 [[Battle of Singapore|British surrender of Singapore]],<ref>{{cite web
 | url        = http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30017232
 | title      = Flag, National, British, Union flag
 | work       = Collection Search
 | publisher  = Imperial War Museum
 | access-date =25 August 2012
}}</ref> and another found among the wreckage of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] following the [[September 11 attacks]]), as well a piece of the towers;<ref>{{cite web
 | url        = http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30017237
 | title      = Union flag
 | work       = Collection Search
 | publisher  = Imperial War Museum
 | access-date =25 August 2012
}}</ref> personal mementoes, souvenirs and miscellanea such as [[trench art]];<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/trench-art
|work=Collections in Context
|title=Trench Art
|access-date=26 August 2012
|publisher=Imperial War Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=trench%20art&submit=&items_per_page=50&filter%5bwebCategory%5d%5b0%5d=%22souvenirs%20and%20ephemera%22
|title= Collections Search for "trench art"
|work=Collection Search
|access-date=26 August 2012
|publisher=Imperial War Museum}}</ref> orders, medals and decorations (including collections of [[Victoria Cross|Victoria]] and [[George Cross]]es); military equipment; firearms and ammunition, ordnance, edged weapons, clubs (such as [[trench raiding club|trench clubs]])<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=trench%20club&items_per_page=50&filter%5bwebCategory%5d%5b0%5d=%22weapons%20and%20ammunition%22
|title=Collections Search for "trench club"
|work=Collection Search
|access-date=26 August 2012
|publisher=Imperial War Museum}}</ref> and other weapons, and vehicles, aircraft and ships. The museum holds the national collection of modern firearms.<ref name=iwm2012p62/> The firearms collection includes a rifle used by [[T. E. Lawrence]],<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30032990
|work=Collection Search
|publisher=Imperial War Museum
|title=Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee Enfield, .303-inch, Mk 3
|access-date=26 August 2012
|archive-date=23 May 2013
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523031314/http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30032990
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> and an automatic pistol owned by [[Winston Churchill]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30034855
|title=Colt Government Model (civilian, 1911)
|work=Collection Search
|publisher=Imperial War Museum
|access-date=26 February 2012}}</ref>

The ordnance collection includes artillery pieces that participated in notable battles, such as the Néry gun, a field gun that was used during the 1914 [[action at Néry]],<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30025225
|title= QF 13 pdr Mk 1 (Néry Gun)
|work=Collection Search
|publisher=Imperial War Museum
|access-date=26 August 2012}}</ref> and equipment captured from enemy forces. The museum's vehicles collection includes [[LGOC B-type#Ole Bill|''Ole Bill'']], a bus used by British forces in the First World War,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/70000241 |title=AEC B Type Bus (B43 Old Bill) |work=Collection Search |publisher=Imperial War Museum |access-date=18 February 2012}}</ref> and a number of vehicles used by [[Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein|Field Marshal Montgomery]] during the Second World War.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=montgomery&submit=&items_per_page=50&filter%5bwebCategory%5d%5b0%5d=%22vehicles%2C%20aircraft%20and%20ships%22 |work=Collection Search |title=Collection Search for "montgomery" (vehicles, aircraft and ships) |publisher=Imperial War Museum |access-date=26 August 2012}}</ref> The museum's aircraft collection includes aircraft that are notable for their rarity, such as the only complete and original [[Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8]] in existence and one of only two surviving [[BAC TSR-2|TSR-2]] strike aircraft,<ref name="R.E.8 Restoration">Gosling, Peter (October 2004) R.E.8 Restoration ''Flight Journal''</ref><ref>Parsons, Gary (2005) 'TSR2 cubed' [http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/hangar/2006/tsr2/tsr2.htm AirSceneUK.org.uk] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125160620/http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/hangar/2006/tsr2/tsr2.htm |date=25 January 2010 }}. Accessed 28 September 2009.</ref> and aircraft associated with particular actions, such as a [[Supermarine Spitfire]] flown during the [[Battle of Britain]].  The museum's naval collection includes [[HM Coastal Motor Boat 4]] and a [[midget submarine]] [[XE class submarine|HMS ''XE8'']].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30004029
|title=ship, Coastal Motor Boat (CMB 4) – MAR 563
|work=Collections Search
|publisher=Imperial War Museum
|access-date=26 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30004581
|title=Submersible, Midget Submarine XE8, British
|work=Collections Search
|publisher=Imperial War Museum
|access-date=26 August 2012
|archive-date=22 May 2013
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522234222/http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30004581
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> In 2012 the museum reported its exhibits collection to contain 155,000 objects and a further 357 vehicles and aircraft.<ref name=iwm2012p62/>

===Library===
The museum's library is a national reference collection on modern conflict, and holds works on all aspects of warfare, including regimental or unit histories (such as 789 rare German unit histories from the First World War),<ref name=copac/> technical manuals, biographical material and works on war's social, cultural, economic, political and military aspects. The library also holds printed ephemera such as the [[Imperial War Museum Stamp Collection]],<ref name=stampcollection>{{cite web |url=http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/philatelic/philateliccollections/collectionsoverview/collectionsgeneral/philcollectionsgeneral.html |title=The Imperial War Museum's Stamp Collection |work=Help for Researchers: Philatelic Collections: General Collections |author=British Library |access-date=3 October 2012 |archive-date=30 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110630103038/http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/philatelic/philateliccollections/collectionsoverview/collectionsgeneral/philcollectionsgeneral.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> leaflets and ration books, printed proclamations, newspapers, trench magazines (such ''[[The Wipers Times]]'') and [[trench map]]s.<ref name=copac>{{cite web
|url=http://copac.ac.uk/about/libraries/imperial-war-museum.html
|access-date=8 September 2012
|title=Imperial War Museum Collections
|work=copac.ac.uk
|publisher=University of Manchester}}</ref> In 2012 the museum reported its library collection to contain over 80,000 items of historic importance (such as maps, proclamations and rare books) and a further 254,000 items of reference material.<ref name=iwm2012p62/>

===Sound===
The museum's Sound Archive holds 33,000 sound recordings, including a large collection of [[oral history]] recordings of witnesses to conflicts since 1914.<ref name=iwmsounnd>{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections-research/about/sound
 |title        = About the Collections: Sound
 |author       = Imperial War Museum
 |year         = 2012
 |work         = iwm.org.uk
 |access-date  = 23 September 2012
 |archive-date = 3 February 2012
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120203002529/http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections-research/about/sound
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref> The museum's sound collection originated in 1972 with the creation of the Department of Sound Records and the instigation of an oral history recording programme. The sound collection opened to the public in July 1977.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lance |first=David |pages=803–804 |title=Sound Archive of Recordings Opens to the Public |journal=Social History |volume=2 |issue=6 |date=October 1977 |jstor=4284738 |doi=10.1080/03071027708567412}}</ref> The collection also includes recordings made by the [[BBC]] during the Second World War, actuality sound effects, broadcasts, speeches and poetry. As part of the museum's First World War centenary programme, the museum is producing ''Voices of the First World War'', a [[podcast]] series drawing upon the museum's oral history recordings.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9614735/Podcast-and-Internet-Radio-previews-Voices-of-the-First-World-War-and-Heres-the-Thing.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9614735/Podcast-and-Internet-Radio-previews-Voices-of-the-First-World-War-and-Heres-the-Thing.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |author=Peter Naughton |date=20 October 2012 |access-date=16 November 2012 |title=Podcast and Internet Radio previews: Voices of the First World War and Here's the Thing |work=telegraph.co.uk}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In 2012 the museum reported the size of its sound collection as 37,000 hours.<ref name=iwm2012p62/>

===Databases===
The IWM has an online database, listing the various items which make up the IWM Collections. In some cases, there are images of the item, or contemporary photos, which can be shared and reused under a [[Creative Commons license|Creative Commons Licence]].

The [[War Memorials Register]] is a database of known [[war memorial]]s in the United Kingdom. Information such as the material used in construction, the condition of the memorial, its address and coordinates with a satellite map plot are recorded for each of the memorials. Whilst many memorials commemorate those who died in the First World War,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatwar.co.uk/organizations/ukniwm.htm |title=UK War Memorials Register  |publisher=The Great War 1914–1918 |access-date=9 January 2018}}</ref> the scope of the project is all conflicts. {{As of|2022}}, there are over 90,000 memorials on the register.<ref>{{cite web |title=War Memorials Register |url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/corporate/projects-and-partnerships/war-memorials-register |access-date=1 March 2022 |publisher=Imperial War Museum}}</ref>

In 2014, IWM and online genealogy service provider [[Findmypast]] entered into a collaboration to launch the "'''Lives of the First World War'''" platform<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Tamura |title=Genealogy 2014: events & trends |url=https://www.tamurajones.net/Genealogy2014.xhtml |access-date=2025-11-13 |website=www.tamurajones.net |language=en}}</ref>.{{cn|date=October 2020}} During the centenary period, anyone could sign up for an account, and those who paid for a subscription had the ability to add records from Findmypast's collections.<ref name="family-tree">{{cite web|url=http://family-tree.co.uk/2013/05/iwm-brightsolid-partner-to-create-lives-of-the-first-world-war-digital-memorial/ |title=IWM & brightsolid partner to create Lives of the First World War digital memorial – Family Tree |publisher=family-tree.co.uk |access-date=2018-01-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141207230621/http://family-tree.co.uk/2013/05/iwm-brightsolid-partner-to-create-lives-of-the-first-world-war-digital-memorial/ |archive-date= 7 December 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A number of sources (War Office medal index cards, Canadian Expeditionary Force attestations, Royal Navy service records etc.) had been used as seeding documents to create individual entries in the database. Each person's profile in the database could have been further built up, so as to document when that person was born, when they died, family members etc. If a person needed to be added, or a duplicate existed that needed to be merged, such activity was requested via a support forum manned by IWM volunteers. A user with a subscription had the ability to group person profiles together into a "community". This could be a grouping based around a ship's crew, a unit in the army, or the names of men and women buried in a given war cemetery.<ref name="LivesKB">
{{cite web|url=http://support.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/knowledgebase |title=Knowledge Base – Help and Support for Lives of the First World War |publisher=support.livesofthefirstworldwar.org |access-date=2018-01-09  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913073318/http://support.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/knowledgebase |archive-date=13 September 2017}}</ref>

The goal was to encourage [[crowdsourcing]] to build up as many details as possible in the database, and to tap into the popularity of online genealogy as a pastime. One selling point of the platform was that the data thus captured would form a "permanent digital memorial<ref>{{cite web|url=https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk |title=Lives of the First World War |publisher=Imperial War Museum |access-date=29 June 2019}}</ref> [that] will be saved for future generations."<ref name="Lives">
{{cite web|url=http://support.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/knowledgebase/articles/321909-how-long-will-the-site-be-available-for |title=How long will the site be available for? |publisher=support.livesofthefirstworldwar.org |access-date=2018-01-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818032509/http://support.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/knowledgebase/articles/321909-how-long-will-the-site-be-available-for |archive-date= 18 August 2015 |quote=IWM has made a commitment that Lives of the First World War will be an interactive platform available to the public throughout the four years of the centenary, and that the permanent digital memorial will be saved for future generations. |url-status=live }}</ref> The IWM declared that the data from the platform would become part of its archive when the platform ceased to be interactive in 2019, "and will be free to access online for research."<ref name="Lives_legacy">
{{cite web|url=http://support.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/knowledgebase/articles/321909-how-long-will-the-site-be-available-for |title=How long will the site be available for? |publisher=support.livesofthefirstworldwar.org |access-date=2017-03-31  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110054745/http://support.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/knowledgebase/articles/321909-how-long-will-the-site-be-available-for |archive-date=10 January 2018  |quote=From early 2019 the memorial will become part of IWM’s archive, and will be free to access [online] for research. }}</ref>

=== Size of collection ===

The museum holds around half a [[petabyte]] of digitised data (as of 2017). This is held in [[Duxford]] (Cambridgeshire) on two SpectraLogic T950 tape libraries, with a distance of 500m between them. One is a LTO-5 ([[Linear Tape-Open]]) tape library, the other is IBM [[IBM 3592|TS1150]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adshead |first=Anthony |date=28 February 2017 |title=IWM digitises vast collection in SpectraLogic tape archive |url=https://www.computerweekly.com/news/450413621/IWM-digitises-vast-collection-in-SpectraLogic-tape-archive |access-date=2021-03-20 |website=ComputerWeekly.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected collection highlights==
<gallery heights="220px" mode="packed">
John Singer Sargent - Gassed Detail 2.jpg|John Singer Sargent
Nash, Paul - Wire - Google Art Project.jpg|Paul Nash
Nevinson, C R W (ARA) - Paths Of Glory - Google Art Project.jpg|C. R. W. Nevinson
Tonks, Henry - Saline Infusion- An incident in the British Red Cross Hospital, Arc-en-Barrois, 1915 - Google Art Project.jpg|Henry Tonks
</gallery>

==Governance==
The Imperial War Museum is an executive [[non-departmental public body]] under the [[Department for Culture, Media and Sport]], from which it receives financial support in the form of a [[grant-in-aid]]. The governance of the museum is the responsibility of a Board of Trustees, originally established by the Imperial War Museum Act 1920,<ref name="iwm1920">[[Office of Public Sector Information]] [https://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1920/cukpga_19200016_en_1 Revised Statute from The UK Statute Law Database: Imperial War Museum Act 1920 (c.16)]. Retrieved 14 April 2010.</ref> later amended by the Imperial War Museum Act 1955<ref>[[Office of Public Sector Information]] [https://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1955/cukpga_19550014_en_1 Revised Statute from The UK Statute Law Database: Imperial War Museum Act 1955 (c.14)]. Retrieved 14 April 2010.</ref> and the [[Museums and Galleries Act 1992]] and other relevant legislation. The board comprises a president (currently [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent]]) who is appointed by the sovereign, and fourteen members appointed in varying proportions by the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]], and the [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|Foreign]], [[Secretary of State for Defence|Defence]], and [[Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport|Culture Secretaries]]. Seven further members are [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] [[High Commissioner (Commonwealth)|High Commissioners]] appointed [[Ex officio member|''ex officio'']] by their respective governments. As of January 2012 the Chairman of the Trustees is Sir [[Francis Richards (diplomat)|Francis Richards]] and his deputy is Lieutenant-General Sir [[John Kiszely]].<ref>Imperial War Museum (2012) [http://www.iwm.org.uk/corporate/trustees/current-trustees Current Trustees]. Retrieved 6 January 2012</ref><ref>Imperial War Museum (2012) [http://www.iwm.org.uk/corporate/trustees/trustee-profiles Our Trustees: Trustee Profiles]. Retrieved 6 January 2012.</ref><ref>Imperial War Museum (September 2006) [http://www.iwm.org.uk/upload/pdf/Sept2006CorpGovernanceCode.pdf Imperial War Museum Corporate Governance Code] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110801234201/http://www.iwm.org.uk/upload/pdf/Sept2006CorpGovernanceCode.pdf |date=1 August 2011 }}. Retrieved 14 April 2010.</ref> Past chairmen have included Admiral Sir [[Deric Holland-Martin]] (1967–77),<ref>{{cite ODNB
| url         = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31246
| title       = Martin, Sir Douglas Eric Holland- (1906–1977)
| first       = B C
| last        = Perowne
| date = 2004
| doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/31246
| access-date  =15 July 2010
}}</ref> [[Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy)|Admiral of the Fleet]] Sir [[Algernon Willis]]<ref>{{cite ODNB
| url         = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31841
| title       = Sir Algernon Usborne Willis (1889–1976)
| first       = P W
| last        = Brock
| date = 2004
| doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/31841
| access-date  =15 July 2010
}}</ref> and [[Marshal of the Royal Air Force]] Sir [[John Grandy]] (trustee 1971–78, chairman 1978–89). During the Second World War Grandy had commanded RAF Duxford, and was chairman during the planning of Duxford's [[Imperial War Museum Duxford#American Air Museum|American Air Museum]], which opened in 1997.<ref>{{cite ODNB
| url         = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/93125
| title       = Grandy, Sir John (1913–2004)
| first       = Henry A
| last        = Probert
| date = 2004
| doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/93125
| access-date  =15 July 2010
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Grandy.htm
| title       = Marshal of the RAF Sir John Grandy (32078)
| first       = M B
| last        = Barrass
| year        = 2001–2008
| work        = Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation
| access-date  =15 July 2010
}}</ref>

The museum's director-general is answerable to the trustees and acts as accounting officer. Since 1917 the museum has had six directors. The first was [[Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington|Sir Martin Conway]], a noted art historian, [[mountaineer]] and explorer. He was [[Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom#Knighthood|knighted]] in 1895 for his efforts to map the [[Karakoram]] mountain range of the [[Himalayas]], and was [[Felix Slade|Slade]] Professor of Fine Arts at the [[University of Cambridge]] from 1901 to 1904. Conway held the post of director until his death in 1937, when he was succeeded by Leslie Bradley. Bradley had served in the First World War in the [[Middlesex Regiment]] before being invalided out in 1917. He later became acquainted with Charles ffoulkes, who invited him to join the museum where he was initially engaged in assembling the museum's poster collection.<ref>'Mr L. R. Bradley: Former Director of Imperial War Museum' (obituary) ''The Times'' 30 January 1968 p. 8</ref> Bradley retired in 1960 and was succeeded by Dr [[Noble Frankland]]. Frankland had served as a [[navigator]] in [[RAF Bomber Command]], winning a [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Flying Cross]]. While a Cabinet Office official historian he co-authored a controversial official history of the [[Strategic bombing during World War II|RAF strategic air campaign]] against Germany. Frankland retired in 1982 and was succeeded by Dr [[Alan Borg]] who had previously been at the [[Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts]]. In 1995 Borg moved to the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] and was succeeded by Sir [[Robert Crawford (historian)|Robert Crawford]], who had originally been recruited by Frankland as a research assistant in 1968. Upon Crawford's retirement in 2008 he was succeeded by [[Diane Lees]], previously director of the [[V&A Museum of Childhood]]. She was noted in the media as the first woman appointed to lead a British [[National museum#United Kingdom|national museum]].<ref>Heal, Sharon (January 2008) 'New chief at IWM revealed' ''Museums Journal'' 108/1 p. 8</ref>

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
| image             = Imperial_War_Museum_Coat_of_Arms.svg
| year_adopted      = 10 February 1969
| crest             = Out of an ancient crown Or, in front of an embattled gate gules, the portcullis raised sable, a lion passant guardant crowned Or.
| escutcheon  = Gules, a trophy composed of a spade and hammer with two swords, all in saltire, and conjoined wings in fess surmounted by an anchor, in chief a chain enarched, all Or.
| motto             = '''THAT THE PAST MAY SERVE'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/wiki/Imperial_War_Museum |access-date=14 November 2022 |title='Imperial War Museum' |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116092608/https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/wiki/Imperial_War_Museum |archive-date=16 January 2021}}</ref>
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website}}
** [https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/first-world-war-galleries At IWM London about the ''First World War Galleries - The Great War'']
** [https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/second-world-war-galleries  At IWM London about the ''Second World War Galleries'']
* [https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/imperial-war-museums?hl=en Imperial War Museum] within [[Google Arts & Culture]]
* {{commons category-inline}}

{{London museums}}
{{Libraries in London}}
{{Department for Culture, Media and Sport}}
{{LB Southwark}}
{{London landmarks}}
{{Authority control}}

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