The history of architecture covers all aspects of the built environment, from progress in construction methods and use of materials, to the emergence of popular styles and fashions and the historic contribution of individual architects to the advancement of architecture.

Many of the documents that are now classed as historical items were written as contemporary texts. Essays, reports and articles, particularly in the RIBA's own archive, often refer to the latest theories and innovations, and over time these come to serve a different purpose from that for which they were originally written. The fact that they were written as contemporary texts makes them particularly valuable as aids to historical research.

Modern architecture is a product of past experience and knowledge and the history of architecture is therefore of great relevance to practising architects. Essays, reports, diaries, journals and correspondence often provide documentary evidence of the observations and opinions of architects and architectural historians. There are numerous records in the Archive, written by both by famous and lesser known authors, that can provide important information for historical research. They include Sir Robert Smike (1780-1867) and Sydney Smirke (1798-1877), Joseph Gwilt (1784-1863), C.R. Cockerell (1788-1863), T.L. Donaldson (1795-1885), J.W. Papworth (1820-1870), William Burges (1827-1881), E.W. Godwin (1833-1886), Carl Franck (1904-1985) and Sir John Summerson (1904-1992), as well as very many others.

Page from the diary of C.R. Cockerell, 1823

The magnificent diaries of C.R. Cockerell, written from 1820 to 1832, provide description and observation on the buildings that he visited during his travels in Britain and abroad. He became a leading authority on classical architecture and his love of Greek architecture was fundamental to his own architectural designs. Others benefited from his knowledge of architectural history not only through his buildings but also through his Royal Academy lectures (1840-1856), and his copious lecture notes now form part of his archive. Other lecture notes include those of Arthur Beresford Pite (1861-1934), covering prehistoric to modern architecture, Erno Goldfinger (1902-1987), covering many aspects of architectural history as well as the history of his own career, and Jaqueline Tyrwhitt (1905-1983) on the history of town planning.

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