Collections Online is a digital catalogue featuring the records of the royal armours of the Tudor and Stuart kings; arms and armour of the English Civil War from Littlecote House; military weapons from the Board of Ordnance and Pattern Room collections; hunting and sporting weapons as well as the collections from Asia and Africa.
These records are enriched by almost 20,000 images along with detailed descriptions of the items and their origins. The library includes a special collection of pictures of the historic buildings at the Tower of London drawn from antique prints and drawings, paintings, early photographs, stereoscopes and lantern slides.
“The Royal Armouries’ online collections illustrate the sheer breadth, diversity and richness of its objects and its records. Many items are on display at our three sites or on loan to cultural venues across the world,” said Edward Impey, Director General and Master of the Armouries. “However, this new resource provides incredible behind-the-scenes access to records about this globally important collection for the first time. These collections play a vital role in advancing everyone’s understanding and appreciation of the history or arms and armour.”
Within the 150,000 records more than 63,000 are about its objects, almost 15,000 about its archives and 62,000 are library records. In addition, there are subject collections about the arms of the First World War and the battle of Waterloo.
