The Springthyme Archive is a collection of recordings of folk songs and traditional music made between the early and mid 1960s to the present day. Many of these are field recordings of folksongs and traditional music made in Ireland, Scotland, England and some in Canada by folk enthusiast and collector Peter Shepheard. Some of the recordings from the early 1960s were made using a small 2" reel to reel Phillips machine, later recordings from the mid 1960s were made on a 5" Uher tape machine. In the 1970s recordings were made on more professional equipment - a Revox A77, a Sony PCMF1 and later on DAT. Recordings made by other individuals have been added to the Archive over the years - recordings made at festivals, sessions and folk clubs.

Recordings made at the Kinross Festival in 1974 with a professional mobile set-up led to the release of a 12" LP album of highlights from the festival including artistes Aly Bain, Tom Anderson, Peerie Willie Johnstone, Stanley Robertson, Angus Grant, Willie Fraser, Jane and Cameron Turriff and the Clutha. The Springthyme Records label was set up as a vehicle to launch the album as SPR1001 Songs and Music from the Kinross Festival.

In recent years, a number of recordings from the Springthyme Archive have been made available for release on other specialist labels - in particular by Musical Traditions Records based in Stroud, Gloucestershire. These include recordings from romany gypsy singers in and around Gloucester made in the 1960s and 1970s - in particular from the Brazil Family and the Smith Family. Musical Traditions Records have also issued recordings from Scotland's northeast include a compilation of archive recordings of songs from Daisy Chapman - recorded by Peter Shepheard, Peter Hall and by Rod Stradling of Musical Traditions.