Film
We have a small collection of films of the local area, most of these have been digitised by the London Screen Archives and can be seen on their website, as well as on DVD in the Search Room at Kingston History Centre.
Topics range from the Surbiton Charter Day ceremony in 1936, the Three Towns Pageant of 1953, or the Kingston River Carnival of 1963. Other films show the town at different times or events such as the visit of H.M. Queen Elizabeth to Kingston in 1992 .
We are keen to expand our collection and would welcome copies of any footage you may have of the local area.
Audio
We have a very small collection of sound recordings, most of which are recordings of council meetings from the 1960s.
Oral histories are an important part of our collections. In the 1980s we recorded over 100 people remembering their working lives in Kingston. Most of these have been transcribed, with the transcriptions available in the Search Room. Recently we have worked with other organisations and have their recordings. These projects include the Wheels of Time, recalling cycling history in the borough and Fighting for Our Rights by the Kingston Centre for Independent Living. We are happy to advise local groups who are considering oral history projects.
