Royal Voluntary Service Archives

The Royal Voluntary Service Archive and Heritage Collection was formed in 1958, the organisation's twentieth anniversary, to gather together and keep safe records which were of long term historical importance.

Since then the Archive & Heritage Collection has been collecting material both from within the organisation and from our volunteers around the United Kingdom and overseas to tell the amazing story of over one million women and men who have given extraordinary service to their communities and helped shape British society.

The collection now includes approximately two million documents, nearly 15,000 photographs and thousands of unique items of uniform and objects.

In 2010 the WVS and WRVS narrative reports, which form a significant part of the Royal Voluntary Service Archive & Heritage Collection, were awarded UK Memory of the world status by the United Nations educational, cultural and scientific organisation UNESCO and are considered to be of outstanding importance and value to the UK.