The Special Collections and Archives’ extensive collections document the history and activities of protest and campaigning. We are now one of the national centres documenting activism and protest in the UK.

Bishopsgate Institute holds archives of individual activists, such as Mavis Middleton, Keith Armstrong and Peter Hunot. We also hold archives of organisations, such as the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, Troops Out Movement, Stop the War Coalition, the English Collective of Prostitutes, Advisory Service for Squatters, Platform, Unite Against Fascism, Freedom Press and Republic.

Our archives and printed material cover a wide variety of topics including republicanism, pacifism, anti-racism, homelessness, environmentalism, the anti-nuclear movement, colonial freedom movements, anarchism, squatting, animal rights and conscientious objection.