A permanent record of printed matter, physical media and cultural objects.
Research-led, object-centred and built as one connected archive across collections, periods and material forms.
Browse the archive →How magazines found a visual voice, how photography shaped youth culture, and how a night out left its mark in print.
Three approaches to putting a culture on the page: early i-D, The Face and a DIY punk publication.
Read the story →
Follow the different roles of photographer, stylist and subject through three British magazine issues.
Read the story →
Club invitations, DJ bills, graphic identities and political organising, preserved on paper.
Read the story →Meet the newest addition to the public catalogue. Every object receives a permanent TMR number, giving it a stable place in the archive as the collection grows.
The Mexican Issue — UK edition · July 2008 worldwide VICE México launch · cover photo Martha Álvarez · Stefan Ruiz / Napoleón Habeica
New research on objects already in the archive.
Added 11 selected contents and credit entries, checked against the registered photograph.
Added 12 selected contents and credit entries, checked against the registered photograph.
Added 17 selected contents and credit entries, checked against the registered photograph.
Explore magazines, books, club ephemera and the other collections. People, publications and themes connect the objects across them.
Rave flyers, posters, invitations and associated club-culture ephemera preserved as material evidence of events, venues and design networks.
02Coins, sovereign bullion and precious-metal cultural objects documented for material, numismatic, design, grading, provenance and collection significance.
03Individual periodical comics, including British and American issues, variants and historically significant runs.
04Physical promotional and documentary material associated with the theatrical circulation and reception of film, including posters, lobby cards, pressbooks, handbills and distributor ephemera.
05Graphic novels, collected editions and long-form sequential-art publications.
06Literary fiction, essays and culturally significant books preserved as physical evidence of authorship, publishing, design and contemporary cultural discourse.
07Independent magazines, fashion and style publications, interiors titles and other periodicals documented as physical cultural objects.
08A separately curated personal collection of photography, art and design books, retaining its own collecting methodology.
09LaserDisc and other significant physical audiovisual editions, with emphasis on packaging, inserts, format history and completeness.
10Association-football trading cards selected for player significance, rarity, autograph or relic context, production history, grading and provenance.
11Sport and non-sport trading cards selected for rarity, cultural significance, signatures, production context and provenance.
12Original records, white labels and related material documenting the emergence, circulation and development of UK garage and grime.
Start with a person, a publication or a shared idea, and see where the objects take you.
Follow a scene, subject or visual language across the objects.
40 active themesPeople and charactersPeople & subjectsIndividuals, collectives, fictional subjects and contributors named in published object records.
2211 catalogue-linked entriesPublications and groupsOrganisationsPublications, publishers, manufacturers, groups, venues and institutions linked to published objects.
689 catalogue-linked organisationsStart exploringBrowseChoose a guided route through collection, theme, significance or chronology.
11 represented decadesThe Material Record preserves physical objects with the discipline of an archive while remaining visually and intellectually connected to contemporary culture.
Permanent identifiers, precise metadata, documented uncertainty and strong object photography are designed to remain useful for research, exhibition and legacy use as the archive develops.
Read about The Material Record →