Many bequests have been made to the Society and Trusts instituted to promote the Society's work in specific areas. The Society became a registered charity in 1962 and its fundraising activities were formalised with the establishment of a development department in the 1990s.\nRecords include administrative correspondence and files, printed matter and publicity material and images
This series includes minutes and rough minutes of the various committees. These are bound by year in chronological order. Also included in this section are manuscript ledgers of premiums awarded and receipts for premiums. This series includes a complete set of the Transactions. Each volume is indexed and cumulative indexes also exist for certain periods.
The Society's commitment to the Commonwealth dates back to colonial development premiums from 1754. The Indian Section was formed in 1869 and merged with the Foreign and Colonial Section to deliver lectures on topics of interest in this area. This had become the Commonwealth Section by 1951. The Commonwealth Section Committee continued to contribute to the lecture programme until 1987 when the Committee was disbanded in favour of two of the members joining the Lecture Programme Committee to enable them to give direct advice to the Lecture Programme Committee as full members of that committee.\nRecords comprise administrative correspondence and papers and photographs. Minutes of the committee have been filed with miscellaneous 20th century committees
The manuscript versions of the Transactions were the draft versions of the printed Transactions, published from 1783 until 1847. They include original correspondence as well as drawings, plans and diagrams in support of claims for premiums and awards. From the late 1840s, papers were read at Society meetings. Some of these papers were reprinted in the Transactions (and the Journal from 1852). Manuscript copies of the text of these lectures, submitted by their authors, are included at the end of this series.\nIncludes correspondence and manuscript versions of papers printed in the Transactions
Records include minutes of the committee, correspondence about awards and attendance at and structure of committee. Additional correspondence to the committee is also included within the Guard Book series at PR/GE/110
The Exhibition was held in the galleries of the Royal Academy and was organised jointly by the RSA and the Royal Academy. The objects of the exhibition were to 'impress upon the public the importance of good design in articles of everyday use; to show that British manufacturers, in co-operation with British artists, are capable of producing in all branches of industry, articles which combine artistic form with utility and sound workmanship; to encourage British artists to give to industry the benefit of their talent and training so that the objects with which we are surrounded in our daily lives may have an appearance which is not only attractive but is based on genuinely artistic principles'. The exhibition was held under Royal Patronage and with the active participation of HRH the Prince of Wales as President of the General Committee\n\nRecords comprise photographs and copy photographs of items displayed at the Exhibition
The distinction of Royal Designers for Industry (RDI) was created by the RSA in 1936 to enhance the status of designers in industry and encourage a high standard of industrial design. The distinction is conferred upon 'citizens of the United Kingdom, who have attained eminence in creative design for industry'. Only 100 designers are able to hold the distinction at any one time and it is regarded as the highest honour to be obtained in the United Kingdom in the fields of industrial design. In addition, the RSA confers upon a limited number of distinguished international industrial designers the award of Honorary Royal Designer for Industry (HonRDI).\nThe Faculty of Royal Designer's for Industry was formed in 1938 as the association of RDI's with the object of furthering the excellence of design and its application to industrial purposes. The Faculty's affairs are presided over by a Master who serves for two years, he is assisted by a Deputy Master who is Master Elect.\nNew appointments are made after consideration by the Faculty and a Joint Panel (comprised of the Faculty and the RSA's Council). Appointments are then ratified by the RSA's full Council.\n\nRecords include administrative correspondence and files including some information on members, minutes of committee meetings, printed items and publicity material and photographs\n
Organised by the RSA but involved collaboration with three other bodies: The ERAS Foundation (later re-named the Environment Foundation), the Department of the Environment and the CBI.\nEntrants could be from industry, educational or research bodies, public bodies or individuals. The project aimed 'to identify, encourage and publicise innovations to abate all types of environmental pollution'. Awards of a trophy and certificate were made annualy.\nSource: The RSA and the Environment, edited by Timothy Cantell, 1993\n\nRecords include printed materials, reports and photographs.
First conference held at Fishmongers' Hall 4-5 November 1963, RSA participated in this along with The Nature Conservancy and co-organised the second and third conferences. Second conference, 10-12 November 1965 was held at the RSA for the first two days and at the Fishmongers' Hall for the third.\nThe last conference in the series was held at the Guildhall, London, 26-28 October 1970\nSource: The RSA and the environment, edited by Timothy Cantell, 1993\n\nThe RSA took responibility for all administrative matters about the Conference in 1964. The Nature Conservancy retained responsibility for arrangement and editing of the relevant papers and for drawing up the programme. In 1968 the Standing Committee for the 'Countryside in 1970' considered a paper about a permanent scheme of awards for projects on the ground which succeed in improving the countryside or extending nature reserves. It was agreed that it would be a good means of promoting active care for the countryside and involvement of the whole community. The committee thought it advisable that the first awards should be made in 1970. Recognising that the '1970' organisation was unsuited to undertake such a scheme they decided that a sub-committee should consider ways and means of organising and financing a Scheme and enter into negociations with potential sponsors. \n\nRecords include administrative correspondence, minutes of meetings, reports, files and papers, publicity and printed matter and photographs
The Thomas Cubitt Trust worked with the Society for a short period to develop a series of annual lectures on architecture and building. These lectures were published in the Journal. Thomas Cubitt had been a member of the Society. He, along with Henry Cole, Francis Fuller and Scott Russell attended the historic meeting with Prince Albert at Buckingham Palace on 30 June 1848 at which the Great Exhibition was born. The RSA-Cubitt Trust Panel was a sub-committee of the Committee for the Environment. It met three or four times a year and convened one conference or seminar annually as well as the Cubitt Lecture.
The Art for Architecture scheme, managed by the RSA, was a collaborative initiative with the Department of National Heritage. It was established with core funding from the Department of the Environment and restricted only to England initial. In 1992, the scheme was extended to Scottish applicants due to Scottish Office funding and similarly to Welsh applicants in 1993 due to Welsh Office funding. The scheme also had a number of private sponsors. Its objective was to enhance the urban environment by encouraging cross disciplinary approaches to building and landscape projects by appointing and providing funds for artists to work as part of a design team from the earliest stages of a development. Michael Wrotesley, DOE, conceived the idea, which stemmed from RSA Student Design Awards. The scheme has been operating since 1990.\n\nDirectly related to the Scheme was the Jerwood Art for Architecture Award. The Award is a financial reward, sponsored by The Jerwood Foundation, to recognise the project which on completion represents both excellence in artistic quality and design and best practice in collaboration. It was presented to the artist and architect, landscape engineer, who are working together. The Jerwood Award was introduced in 1994.\n\nRecords include administrative correspondence, printed items and publicity material, and photographs.
The Society acquired or were presented ith drawings, etchings, engravings and prints which were not produced as a direct result of the Polite Arts premium scheme
The scheme began in 1924 as the Competition of Industrial Design; this later became the Industrial Art Bursaries Competition (1946), the Design Bursaries Competition (1977), the Student Design Awards (1989/90), Design Directions (2003) and back to the Student Design AwardS in (2010). This is a project based award scheme for students of design which is judged by leaders in design and business. Its aims to bring promising students to the attention of the industry, to help students near the end of their education to sharpen their ability to contribute within a commercial setting, to influence design education by directing the attention of students to areas not necessarily covered in their course, and to give winning students the opportunity of industrial work experience or travel to further their design careers.\n\nIn addition to the travel and attachment awards given under each separate section of the competition, there were a number of special awards given to recognise winning students either for a particular feature of their winning entry, or some other criteria allied to the special award. These awards ran at different stages of the competition and each award ran for a different length of time. The special awards offered in a particular year were usually recorded in the project book and review/ report for that year. The winners of these awards were normally announced at a later date than the main competition results and therefore winners were only occasionally mentioned in the annual review/ report books. Where it is known that an additional award was won by a student, this is recorded on the individual's record. \n\nThese prizes included (this list is not complete):\n' Associateship of the RSA (winners of travel or attachment awards were also entitled to a year's free Fellowhsip of the RSA if they were over 25, and a year's free Associateship if they were under 25)\n' The Jacobs Memorial Award Certificate (for the student who submitted the best study tour report both in terms of content and presentation) \n' Alyson Leslie Award (this was first offered in 1992/93 and was awarded to the writer of the report which, in the view of Alyson Leslie, communicated to the reader most effectively how they used the award, what benefits they derived from it and how it would influence their future career)\n' Sir Frank Warner Memorial Medal (this medal commemorated the initiation of the original Competition of Industrial Design by Frank Warner. It was awarded for the best individual textile design. This medal was linked to the Sir Ernest Goodale Memorial Award) \n' Sir Ernest Goodale Memorial Award (this award was established by The Worshipful Company of Weavers in memory of Sir Ernest Goodale who was chairman of the RSA Design Committee. The award was given to the winner of the Sir Frank Memorial Medal to enable them to travel further afield)\n\n' The Whittington Award (this award was sponsored by the Mercers' Company and given to the entry that best demonstrated an understanding and appropriateness in their design on the theme, 'Design for Export')\n' The Master's Medal (this medal was presented by the Master of the RDI Faculty to the student who, in the opinion of the Master, solved the problem set out in any brief in the most practical, elegant and commercially viable manner)\n' The Chartered Society of Designers Student Medal (beginning in 1988/89, a silver medal was awarded to an outstanding student in each of the Chartered Society's design disciplines)\n' Wally Olins Opportunity Award (started in 2001/02 this award was for the student who most eloquently made a case for the use of the money to add value to the design business as a whole) \n' British Airways Flight Awards (a certain number of point to point flights within Europe were given to students who won travel awards)\n' The BIB Design Consultants Attachment and European Travel Award (the winner of this award was selected from short-listed students entering any of the industrial/ product design sections)\n' The BIB Travel Award to the United States (started in 1988/89, the winner of this award was selected from short-listed students entering any of the industrial/ product design sections who would most benefit from visiting the USA)\n' Deryck Healey International Colour Bursary Award (this was awarded to the student who demonstrated the impact of colour in a way which was exceptionally appropriate to consumer needs)\n' Formica Award (Formica Limited offered money for a well-planned study tour for the candidate who made the most appropriate and imaginative use of Formica Products in their solution to a project within the Student Design Awards)\n' The Kodak Photographic Award (this was given to students in specified sections of the competition who answered the brief in predominantly photographic terms.\n\n\nRecords include administrative files and correspondence, minutes of various committees, printed material including annual reports, publicity material and photographs of a small selection of winning designs.
The Design Section involved itself from time to time with other societies in the promotion of Design, often to encourage different Design bodies to co-operate with each other.
The Society's examinations were instituted in 1856 and work burgeoned over the ensuring decades. The RSA Examinations Board was responsible for the Society's role as a major examining body principally in commercial/office skills and languages (particularly English as a foreign language) ranging from elementary to post-graduate. The academic work of the Board was conducted mainly from the London offices whilst the operational work, including printing and data processing, was carried out at premises near Orpington. The Examinations Board became a separate Company in 1987 and was sold in 1997 at which point it merged with the Oxford and Cambridge Examinations Boards to form OCR. Records include administrative files and papers and printed material including some examples of examination papers at various dates. Examination papers for some years have also been bound into volumes of the Journal.\n\nRecords include general administrative correspondence, printed matter including examination question papers, syllabuses, reports and photographs. The collection does not include lists of individual candidates.