MAJOR COLLECTIONS

We have a near-complete set of phone books for the whole country produced not only by BT Group, but also by its predecessors including Post Office Telecommunications, the National Telephone Company and other private companies. They date back to 1880, the year after the public telephone service was introduced into Great Britain. The collection is of particular interest to family historians. 

Scanned in collaboration with Ancestry.co.uk, the phone books from 1880-1984 are available online. You can still view copies of the phone books from 1880 to the present in person at the BT Group Archives.

Note: historical copies of the Yellow Pages directory are available at the Royal Berkshire Archives.

These are our historical records for the telecommunications function of the Post Office and its predecessors. These papers document the development of the telegraph and telephone services up to 1984, and include records of preceding private telegraph and telephone companies taken over by the Post Office dating back to the early part of the 19th century. These are searchable and, where scanned, available to view on our online catalogue.

The collection of records from the private telegraph companies dating back to 1846 are some of the oldest held by BT Group Archives. This collection includes all the records created and used by the inland private telegraph companies before the network was nationalised under the Post Office in 1870. It also includes some private telegraph companies who operated international services, which were brought under control of the Post Office. This collection has many interesting items including company letter books and plans of the developing telegraph network. These are searchable and, where scanned, available to view on our online catalogue.

This comprises records created by the company from 1984 (when it was privatised) to the present day.

Access to documents that are not public records (i.e. those created after 6 August 1984) and that are more than 30 years old may be permitted at the discretion of the Head of BT Group Archive for the purposes of historical research only. For further information please contact archives@bt.com. 

The fascinating body of photographic records, video and film of BT Group and Post Office Telecommunications dating back to the last century. This fascinating body of records includes not just images of old equipment, but views of engineers and telephone operators at work, old vehicles, street furniture and scenes and so forth, including many local views. These are searchable and, where scanned, available to view on our online catalogue. A curated selection of images, as well as historical film and video, are also available to browse online. 

We keep a wide selection of printed sources relating to the history of communications, from major scientific breakthroughs and national events to histories of local exchanges and telecommunications pioneers. Sources include journals and periodicals, technical and historical works dating back to the 18th century, and external publications and reports. These are searchable on our online catalogue.

We also hold a wide selection of BT Group publications, such as annual reports and staff magazines, many of which are digitised and can be accessed via our online catalogue.