The Archives of the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild are one of the largest collections relating to British Puppetry in the world. Within the archives are documents, photographs and actual puppets connected with the most talented and famous puppeteers and puppetmakers the UK has ever produced.

The archive is continually growing with additions from both the past as well as items relating to current puppeteers and companies. It is the aim of the Guild to create a recognised National Puppetry Archive that would become the premier source of information on British Puppetry. Our archive strives to not only preserve items connecting the puppetry arts, but to also ensure, where possible, that the puppets within our collection continue to perform and delight future generations of audiences. It is also our hope to soon have large aspects of the archive scanned and available online for research, so that the collection is accessible to all interested parties from around the world.

The most recent acquisition into the archives was the Lanchester Marionette collection which was obtained with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The collection contained over 40 marionettes together with all sets and props. The productions included The Grand Circus, Underwater Ballet and Old Time Marionettes - 13 Victorian marionettes perfectly preserved and maintained. Obviously there has been a huge amount of interest in this acquisition and the Guilds first performance of the marionettes was attended by over 100 people.

The current archives are maintained by our Hon. Archivist Michael Dixon. He would be very interested to hear from anyone who has anything they would like to add to the collection or if you have a particular interest or aspect of puppetry you would like to research, we would be happy to help. Click here to contact Michael Dixon.