Engaging with our archive
Celebrate and re-imagine 80 years of thought and influential work by exploring our archive
The Archive is held at Wellcome Collection
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations’ archive can be found by searching on Wellcome Library’s online catalogue, using the reference: SA/TIH.
The archive is freely available for researchers to access.
Explore records from the War Office Selection Board in the 1940s, notes on work with major manufacturing companies in the 1950s, 60s and 70s and studies of public bodies and health services into the 21st century.
War Office Selection Board index cards, Tavistock Archive held at the Wellcome Collection (photo from Juliet Scott)
The work of key figures in the development of the socio-psychological approach to business management and the working environment is substantially represented, as are signature projects in collaboration with major manufacturing companies in the 1950s and 1960s in the context of Britain’s post-War economic revival.
Fragment: Doc no. 470: G. W. Higgin, H. Murray, A. B. Pollock, E.L. Trist, “Comparative Study of Mining Systems Composite Cutting Longwalls: v. The development of task-shift rotation systems”. SA/TIH/B/1/1/3 1950-58. Thanks to Henrietta Hale.
There is a wealth of information about social structure in the field work interviews for various projects, including several studies of aspects of the health service.
Records of other projects and events organised by the Institute illustrate the range of its consultancy, research, evaluation and training initiatives throughout the later 20th and early 21st centuries.
For queries relating to the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations archive, please contact collections@wellcome.ac.uk or call +44 (0)20 7611 8722.