Sound & Video Archive

The Essex Sound and Video Archive collects sound and video recordings covering all aspects of life and culture in Essex, with particular focus on oral history, broadcast material, music and dance. Blog entries about our collections will give you some insight into what we hold. 

We also offer a range of sound and video services including talks and presentations, digitisation, oral history training and audio-visual archives consultancy.

Listening and viewing

You can listen to recordings in the archive’s playback room at the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford. Sound recordings can also be listened to, by arrangement, at the Archive Access Points at Saffron Walden and Harlow.

An increasing number of recordings can be listened to or viewed online either through Essex Archives Online or on our YouTube channel or SoundCloud.

Copies of recordings

We can provide copies of recordings in the collection to users who are able to gain the appropriate permissions from owners and copyright holders. Archive staff will be able to help you identify the copyright holder where the information is available.

The use of copies of archive material for publication or public dissemination of any kind is subject to our written permission and may involve further charges.

Copies of material can be supplied on CD (or DVD) or as digital files. Please complete a Copying Request Form and return it to us by e-mail or post. Copies of the form can also be sent to you by e-mail or post.

Research guides

These leaflets have been produced to help people looking for sound and video recordings relating to particular subjects. For further details of any of the recordings listed, search on Essex Archives Online.

• Agriculture
• Christmas
• Education
• Essex dialect and accents
• Folk song and music
• Health
• Housing
• Shops and shopping
• Traditional English dance in Essex
• Transport
• First World War
• Second World War

Please e-mail us if you would prefer to have these leaflets e-mailed or posted to you.