The Archive of NTM is archive with public access and it is oriented to the history of the technique, technology, science, industry, crafts, enterprises and trade in the Czech lands as well as in abroad.
The archive was founded in 1931 and was the part of the Technical Museum of Czechoslowakia (it was then the name of the Museum).
The special sections create the Railway Archive and the Aviation Archive, which have their own organization structure.
These files compose a major part of the archive. They contain personal hereditaments, a smaller part includes files of industrial enterprises, institutions and societies. Time span of the files ranges from the 18th to 20th centuries, the whole archival documents comprise 750 inventory numbers, about 950 running metres. The personal files contain hereditaments of distinguished personalities of science, technology, technical education, entrepreneurs active in Bohemia and Moravia, for instance F. J. and F. A. Gerstners, J. and R. Bozeks, J. Ressel (fragment of hereditaments), F. Krizik, V. Klement, I. Etrich, J. Kaspar, R. Barta, K. V. Zenger, J. Hrabak, B. Nedoma, and others. The files of companies contain, for instance, official documents of the textile factory Cosmanos from the early 19th century. Independent parts of the archive of NTM represent the aviation and railway archives. They contain documents from the history of aviation and railways on the territory of the Czech Republic with respect to world developments. Time span of the documents covers the 19th and 20th centuries. The files include collections of drawings and photographs, personal documents, identification cards, letters, diaries, diplomas, remembrances, instruction books and manuals for use and maintenance of aeroplanes and their engines, companies leaflets, and prints, technical documentation, standards, statistical calculations of aeroplanes, etc. The total collection represents about 300 r.m. and 5500 drawings from the field of aeronautics and 50 r.m. and 1800 drawings from the field of railway transport.
The section Pictures and Graphics includes picture material of non-photographic character – graphics, drawings, paintings, prints from large canvases of oil paintings to printed post cards, time span from the 18th to 20th centuries (about 11.000 items). From the subject point of view the section contains portraits of personalities, iconography of interiors and exteriors of industrial enterprises, vistas, industrial exhibitions, technical museums, diplomas, emblems. The collection contains also the plan of Rudolf's adit in Prague from 1593, a unique mining relic from the late Middle Ages.
The collection contains about 9500 drawings and plans from various technical fields within the time range of the 19th and 20th centuries. It includes layout sketches and schemes of the size A4 as well as large design drawings of the size A1 and A0. The fields represented here are, in particular, mechanical engineering and transport, metallurgy, mining, etc. Precious files are represented by works of students of the Prague Technical University, coloured drawings of technical installations, machines and buildings from the period between 1810 and 1860 (about 500 pieces).
The collection contains about 23.000 negatives of various sizes from cine-films of 35 mm width to original glass negatives of large sizes 24×30 cm and 30×40 cm from the 19th century, then about 6000 slides and 52.000 positive prints, including originals of distinguished representatives of the Czech photography of the 19th and 20th centuries, e.g. Frantisek Friedrich, Jindrich Eckert, Frantisek Kratky, Rudolf BrunerDvorak, Frantisek Drtikol, and others. The topics represented here are photography of technical objects, machines, factories (exteriors and interiors), transport means, pictures from beginnings of motoring and aviation, portrait photography, pragensia, photographic documentation from construction of railways. Many photographic prints are arranged in files and bound in albums.
The collection of firms' prints is a large archival file (about 350 r.m. covering the time span from the mid-19th century till present time. It contains a very heterogeneous documentation material of firms – promotional leaflets and folders, instructions for use and maintenance of machines, instruments and various mechanisms, price lists of firms and department stores, occasional prints of Czech as well as foreign industrial and trading firms.
A frequently utilized part of the collection contains firms' leaflets of car and motorcycle makers of Czech and foreign provenance, cataloques and price lists of industrial goods from the turn of 19th and 20th centuries.
The file of the size of about 170 r.m. contains manuscripts, unpublished studies and lectures, diaries of different personalities from the fields of technology, industry, sciences, crafts, predominantly from the Czech territory from the period of 19th and 20th centuries.
The collection of patent files and bulletins of the size of about 150 r.m. from the period of 19th and 20th centuries, predominantly from the territory of AustriaHungary and Czechoslovak Republic, but also from United Kingdom (since 18th century), and from Germany and the United States.
Small collection of about 230 pieces of plaques, medals, memorial coins with the theme of technology, industry, exhibitions and personalities of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The collection contains a small film library of about 200 films of width 8 mm, 16 mm and 35 mm, black/white as well as colour, silent as well as sound from various fields of history of science, technology and industry (building industry, mining, metallurgy, transport, motoring) from the 20th century. Sound documents are recorded on tape cassettes, CDs are also archived.