The Carnival Archive is an online archive repository of all carnival related activity that takes place within the counties of Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Norfolk and Essex.

The archive aims to preserve collections for the future and provide access to them in the present in order to inspire a deeper level of understanding, enjoyment and interest in the heritage of carnival, as well as raise the exposure and profile of carnival arts and carnival artists.

The Carnival Archive is a completely digital archive. This means the archives are all either born digital (created in a digital format) or digitised (have been scanned or photographed). It also means that the archive can only be accessed online and that the vast majority of our collections are available online.

At the moment we are collecting archives based from the four locations; Luton, Northampton, Norwich and Southend. However it is a long term aspiration for the archive to be rolled out nationally.