Help Preserve Rave History
The archive is built from the things people kept: tapes, flyers, photographs, stories, line-ups, pirate-radio recordings, press cuttings and memories from the people who were actually there.
What survived because someone kept it
Rave history was never created by one group of people. Promoters booked the rooms, DJs and MCs carried the sound, photographers caught the crowd, pirate stations spread the music and ravers carried the culture from one weekend to the next.
Much of that history still sits in private collections: boxes of flyers, old cassettes, DATs, negatives, photographs, VHS tapes, posters, guest lists, magazines, recordings and stories that have never been properly documented online.
Rave Archive UK welcomes contributions that help preserve that history with the original source, credit and context attached.
Built by the people who were there
Photos & negatives
Club photography, crowd shots, contact sheets, scans, disposable-camera pictures and unpublished collections.
Events & archives
Flyers, line-ups, venue information, posters, programmes, recordings, press material and first-hand event history.
Tapes & memories
Sets, radio appearances, biographies, photographs, flyers and information that can improve existing artist histories.
Stations & recordings
Airchecks, schedules, station photographs, frequency information, jingles, adverts and stories from behind the transmitters.
Your view of the scene
Photographs, ticket stubs, clothing, stories, personal recordings and memories from the dancefloor and journeys around it.
Collections with context
Material preserved over the years that can help fill gaps, identify events or reconnect pieces of rave history.
Contribute without losing your credit
Tell us what you have and how you were connected to the scene.
Files can be supplied by an agreed cloud link, archive folder or another practical transfer method.
Where possible we record dates, venues, events, line-ups, names, ownership and source information.
Material selected for the archive is presented with the agreed attribution and contribution conditions.
Your material remains your material
Contributing something to Rave Archive UK does not automatically transfer ownership of it. Photographers, artists and other rights holders remain credited, and any special conditions agreed for a collection are recorded alongside it.
Permission to display material as part of the historical archive is not treated as blanket permission for merchandise, advertising or unrelated commercial use. Where separate permission is needed, it is asked for separately.
If better information later comes to light, captions and archive records can be corrected. Accuracy matters more than pretending every gap has an answer.
Got something worth preserving?
Whether it is one photograph with a story behind it or an entire collection spanning years, start by telling us what you have.
