The building concept was influenced by the West Sussex Record Office under construction at the time.

[3] Among the most notable collections are the official records of Surrey County Council since 1889; the historical records of the Mores and More-Molyneux of Loseley Park, near Guildford;[5] the records of the many mental hospitals in the county;[6] Philip Bradley's collection of fairground photographs;[7] papers of Lewis Carroll and "Carrolliana";[8] the papers of the Labour politician and Home Secretary James Chuter Ede;[9] manuscripts and papers of the author R. C. Sherriff;[10] archives, plans and garden designs of Gertrude Jekyll;[11] archives of the infantry regiments associated with the county, including the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), the East Surrey Regiment and the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment;[12] archives of Surrey clubs, societies and local organisations, including Surrey County Cricket Club[13] and Epsom Grandstand Association;[14] and the archives of major businesses such as Dennis Specialist Vehicles Ltd of Guildford.

[15] The archives of John Broadwood & Sons and a large number of papers relating to members of the Broadwood family, including Lucy Broadwood the folk song collector, which are all housed at Surrey History Centre, were the subject of an extensive conservation programme, aided by Heritage Lottery Fund funding and completed in 2006.

[16] Surrey History Centre holds an extensive collection of parish registers.

The online Guide to parish registers held at Surrey History Centre indicates that significant numbers of the registers for parishes historically in Surrey but now in London are held by London Metropolitan Archives.