The only known letter containing words from both Paul McCartney and John Lennon goes on public display in Hamburg from 8 to 25 May. The rare archive of letters and photographs from the Beatles’ Hamburg years will be exhibited free as part of the Hafengeburtstag port festival. This material includes items donated by Mike McCartney, Paul’s brother, alongside documents from the Cavern Club and the Liverpool Beatles Museum. The display focuses on the group’s formative period in Hamburg between 1960 and 1962, when long club residencies and a new look helped shape their sound and public image.

Rare material on display

The exhibition brings together letters and original photographs from the Beatles’ earliest years in Hamburg. Organisers say the material spans the time when the band lived and worked in the German port city between 1960 and 1962. The collection includes correspondence from John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, as well as items linked to Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best.

One item singled out by curators is the only known letter that contains words from both McCartney and Lennon. That letter was addressed to Paul’s brother, Mike McCartney, who has provided parts of the archive. Other documents came from the Cavern Club and the Liverpool Beatles Museum.

Photographs taken by Stuart Sutcliffe feature in the show. Sutcliffe, who was an early member of the group and a close friend of the Hamburg photographer Astrid Kirchherr, captured images that informed the band’s early image. He is credited with adopting the moptop haircut first, after Kirchherr styled his hair. Sutcliffe chose to stay in Hamburg with Kirchherr. The rest of the band returned to Liverpool and later replaced him with Ringo Starr.

Voices from the band

Letters in the archive reveal the band’s changing sense of themselves. In one note, Pete Best wrote to his mother about how he, Lennon and McCartney felt like stars as they boarded a plane. He recalled a press interview about the group being voted Liverpool’s number one band.

The letter captures the suddenness of attention that greeted them during this period.

Mike McCartney, who donated material to the show, spoke about what the letters reveal. "It's fascinating, because they give you so many secrets about them as they're developing," he said. He described the period in Hamburg as a turning point.

Mike McCartney also noted how the long stints in Hamburg changed the band’s performance style. The man said they played nonstop and sometimes performed for eight hours a night. "They were on all these pills to keep them going, uppers and downers," he said. He added that Paul returned from Hamburg noticeably thinner and that the band sounded far more professional on their return to Liverpool.

Organisers and context

The archive has been assembled by the Liverpool City Region combined authority in collaboration with the Hamburg senate. The exhibition is free and will run during Hafengeburtstag, Hamburg’s annual port festival, which attracts visitors to the city’s waterfront and cultural programme.

Mastheads

Organisers have presented the material as a portrait of the original five members of the band at a formative moment. That lineup included Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Sutcliffe and Best. The pieces on show seek to map how long club residencies, friendships formed in Hamburg and the city’s live-music scene shaped the Beatles’ sound and look.

Hamburg, Liverpool and cultural ties

The exhibition links two cities closely associated with the Beatles’ early story. Liverpool supplied papers, photographs and museum material. Hamburg supplied the setting and the social context in which the band evolved.

The show forms part of a pattern of cultural exchange between cities that share musical heritage. For Liverpool, lending material to a major public exhibition in Hamburg places local archives on an international stage. For Hamburg, the display adds a high-profile element to the port festival programme.

Both cities have a stake in the Beatles as cultural assets. Museums, clubs and local authorities maintain collections and run events that attract visitors. The display is free. But it forms part of a festival that brings audiences into the city centre and to commercial venues including hotels, restaurants and shops.

Historic archives can have a multiplier effect on tourism and local business. A festival exhibition draws people who then spend on hotels, food and transport. It also raises the profile of local museums and cultural services that loan material and host programming around the display.

For Liverpool institutions that provided letters and photographs, the loan underlines the city’s role as custodian of Beatles heritage. That role translates into ongoing visitor interest for Liverpool’s cultural sector. The Cavern Club and the Liverpool Beatles Museum are both part of the city’s visitor offer tied to the band’s history.

For Hamburg, the exhibition adds a narrative element to Hafengeburtstag. Festival programming that foregrounds the Beatles can broaden the festival’s appeal beyond maritime themes. It can attract music fans and cultural tourists who might not otherwise attend a port festival.

City-level cooperation on cultural projects often plays a soft-diplomacy role. The collaboration between Liverpool City Region and the Hamburg senate is a practical example. It shows how local authorities can work across borders to mount public programmes that highlight shared history.

In recent years cultural links between cities have been used to sustain ties that go beyond national policy debates. The exchange of archives and joint exhibitions can create new platforms for municipal engagement and for civic institutions to reach international audiences.

The exhibition is free to the public. That matters for access to cultural heritage. Free shows lower the barrier for visitors who want to see original documents and photographs. They also allow researchers and fans to inspect items that were previously held in private hands.

Mike McCartney’s decision to donate pieces to the joint collection has a public dimension. It means family-held letters may now be seen alongside material from museums and clubs. The arrangement provides a fuller account of the band’s Hamburg years than any single collection could offer.

Letters and photographs from a band on the verge of global fame are valuable for historians of popular music. They are

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The exhibition opens on 8 May and runs through 25 May as a free public display during Hamburg’s Hafengeburtstag.

This article was created with AI assistance.