Glastonbury archive to be housed at V&A museum

Archive to include memorabilia dating back to first Glastonbury in 1970

Festival goers enjoy the sunset in a photo to be kept in the V&A's Glastonbury archive (Matt Cardy)

A permanent archive of Glastonbury memorabilia is to be held at the V&A museum, festival organisers have confirmed.

Scroll to see photos from the archive

Festival founder Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily have already given the museum an extensive collection of festival memorabilia, including programmes, posters, backstage passes, setlists, letters and photos.

The items date back to the first ever Glastonbury on 19 September 1970, when tickets were £1 and The Kinks headlined the festival, which promised “a lightshow, lightship, diorama and films, freaks and funny things” on its bill.

Other pieces due to be added to the archive include personal accounts and documents that trace the origins of the festival, and maps that reveal how Glastonbury has grown and developed on its site in Worthy Farm.

Martin Roth, director of the V&A, said: “The archive is interesting not only for its diversity but also for its fascinating witness to creative, social and political change in the UK.”

The archive will be added to after each Glastonbury to capture the evolution of the festival, with selected highlights due to be displayed in the V&A’s Theatre and Performance Galleries from March 2015 – January 2016.

The archive show will document the evolution of the Pyramid Stage (Matt Cardy)

Speaking about the new archive, Michael Eavis said: 'When I set out on this crazy hippy trip 44 years ago, little did I know how this roller coaster would run. But now I have to pinch myself every morning when I wake up to the excitement of another day - heading up a team of the most creative artists anywhere in the world.

“The V&A is an inspirational space and feels like the natural ‘home’ for our ever-evolving archive so we can really show everyone, not just festival-goers, what we really do."

Read more: Glastonbury introduces £600,000 loos
Michael Eavis defends Metallica