Showing 97 results

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 Society held a number of small art exhibitions at John Adam Street. Some of these were in aid of the formation of a National gallery of British Art

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

The aim of the project was to define the role of manufacturing in a sustainable economy, which the Society considered to be one of the key issues of economic and industrial policy facing the UK. A linked series of three lectures and five seminars to clarify the significance of a healthy manufacturing sector in improving the UK's international trade and economic growth.

The functions of the group were to keep the RSA in touch with developments in manufactures and commerce; provide ideas for lectures, projects and initiatives; advise on the value of suggestions for lectures, projects and initiatives coming from the Fellowship and the extent to which the RSA name should be attached to them; evaluate the quality of the RSA manufactures and commerce programme; support the RSA in the formulation and dissemination of ideas and project results and provide advice on sponsorship for manufacturing activities.

A forum comprising representatives from business and education to promote a national strategy for restructuring education and training, based on the RSA projects Learning Pays (1991) and Profitable Learning (1992)

Learning Pays was a project set up by the Society and run by Sir Christopher Ball

The Society was more closely connected with the management of this exhibition than with that of 1851. In both cases the initial organisation was due to the Society, and in both cases the early preparations were made by and at the risk of the Society. However, the 1862 Exhibition was managed by a Commission appointed by the Society, while in 1851 the Managing Commission had been entirely independent. Although 1851 was a profitable exhibition, receipts in 1862 were insufficient to cover expenses. \nThis series includes general correspondence to the Society about plans for the exhibition and about funding, as well as a series of images of the exhibition. There are no details of exhibits. These are included in the exhibition catalogues at SC/EX/1.\n\nRecords include general administrative correspondence to the Society, press cuttings and copy photographs of illustrations

This proposal was developed form earlier discussions initiated by the Education Committee and the Women's Working Group.

Industry Year 1986 took place because it was considered that in the late 1980's the decline in UK manufacturing seriously threatened our ability to maintain let alone improve the quality of life for our citizens. Industry Years' slogan 'Thanks to Industry', was intended as a challenge to a society which is insufficiently aware that almost everything we do depends on industrial activity and which shows little appreciation of such activity. The Industry Committee was formed towards the end of 1982 to carry forward an initiative begun at St. George's House, Windsor, in conjunction with the earlier, 'Comino Committee' of the RSA. The committee members included: \nSir Geoffrey Chandler, Director, Industry Year; Diana McMahon, Deputy Director, Industry Year; Lord Vinson, Chairman, Industry Year Executive Committee; Christopher Lucas, Secretary; John Robertson, Assistant Secretary\nIts main objective was the promotion, throughout the United Kingdom, of a recognition of the importance to the future of our county - and to its influence on the world economy - of a prosperous and profitable British Industry in all its branches based upon modern technology and , with that, to help to effect a positive change in the cultural attitude towards industry in Britain on the part of the public as a whole. The Industry Committee which was formed to take over from the Comino Fellowship Committee, the latter formed in 1979, was established with much wider terms of reference than the running of Industry Year 1986.\n\nIndustry Matters was the successor of Industry Year. It was a clearly targeted programme of action which continued to stress the importance of industry and its role in our lives, building on the momentum achieved during Industry Year 1986. The main aim was to encourage continuing action in three main areas: developing partnerships between industry and education; action by industry to communicate more effectively the part it plays in society; increasing awareness of industry's role and its service to the community. The work was carried on through a network of regional and local groups, with a central team provided for up to two years by the RSA.\n\nSeries of records which include minutes of various steering committees and correspondence relating to the development and administration of the project.

The Society held an exhibition of Indian art in 1962. It was opened by the Indian Prime Minister, Nehru. This series includes photographs of Nehru at the opening.

The Ilkley Conferences are annual gatherings of R&D directors, and other senior executives with responsibility for science, research and technology, for major international and UK firms. The aim of the events were to provide networking opportunities and for exchanging information and ideas.

In his lecture 'Humour in Art' given to the Society in February 1949, H M Bateman had proposed a permanent National Gallery of Humorous Art, in which to display the many original drawings of published comic art, which currently languished in back offices, or in corners of studios, and never seen by the public. \nAs a tentative beginning the Society, at the suggestion of its Chairman of Council, Sir Harry Lindsay KCIE, CBE, organised a temporary exhibition of 162 drawings of the work of more than fifty artists, ranging from Rowlandson and Gillray, to Osbert Lancaster and E H Shepard, Emett and Giles. With the help of Kenneth Bird, the editor of Punch, H M Bateman and Anna Zinkeisen, RDI, the Society was able to arrange an interesting display in the Society's Library (located at this time in what is now the Benjamin Franklin Room), which was open to the public free of charge.\nEncouraged by the steady flow of visitors, by the end of the second week 7,091 people had visited the exhibition, including HRH The Duke of Edinburgh (President, RSA 1952-2011) and The Duchess of Kent. The Council decided to postpone the closing day until Saturday 13 August, and to extend the daily opening hours to 6.30pm on weekdays, including Saturdays and the August Bank Holiday. 14,000 people had passed through the doors by the end of the exhibition, and as there was still a great public interest, the Society was able to arrange for the exhibition to travel round the country from October 1949 to April 1950, showing at Hove, Coventry, Salford, Preston, Liverpool, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Lincoln, Hull and Leicester. It has been estimated that a further 40,000 people saw it in the course of this tour. The exhibition also received press coverage worldwide in newspapers and magazines such as Picture Post, Illustrated London News, The Spectator and two pages in the BBC Arabic News. Coverage also featured in television and cinema newsreels. But in spite of all this interest Bateman's original idea for a National Gallery of Humorous Art never came to life.\n\nRecords include correspondence and papers about arrangements for the exhibition, a catalogue and printed material and photographs

The RSA has had an interest in Home-School links and the use of written agreements since 1988 when it worked with the National Association of Head Teachers on a project 'Home-School Contract of Partnership'. It has published regularly on the topic since then, some of these publication being part of the Education for Capability (PR/ED/107) and Parents in a Learning Society(PR/ED/104) projects

The original sequence of material and original folio numbers have been retained where possible and the contents are listed to item level. The letters cover the period 1754 to 1770 and are in approximate chronological order.The series has been placed in a general category as it covers a range of subjects.

The Society is generally credited with the idea of an international exhibition. However the exhibition was administered by a Royal Commission and the Society had no role in the exhibition itself.\nRecords include general administrative correspondence about the setting up and financing of the exhibition, printed reports, lists of subscribers and synopses of letters from John Scott Russell to Prince Albert, among others. Also includes a series of copy photographs of some of the exhibits and copies of contemporary illustrations. Catalogues and jury reports are included within the exhibition publications section at SC/EX/

Printed materials

\nRoutine administrative correspondence was retained by the Society for many years and remained untouched from the time it had been filed. No attempt had been made to arrange the bulk of this correspondence other than in approximate alphabetical order. The correspondence was appraised as part of the Archive Project of 1998-2002\n\nPhysical description and arrangement\nFirst series: c.1854 - c.1889\nThis series comprise bundles of general correspondence to the Society dating from 1854 to about 1889. There are some gaps: nothing dated 1856, 1859, 1860 and 1863 to 1867. They were arranged in alphabetical sequence by year (for example Letter 'A' 1856). Originally there were some 80,000 items of correspondence.\n\nSecond sequence: c.1895 to c.1915\nThis series of documents were filed in their original wood/board boxes during the period 1895 to 1915. The series originally consisted of about 60,000 items. These contained general correspondence to the Society arranged in alphabetical order by name of sender. \nContents include a very small number of pamphlets, printed texts, and circular letters sent to the Society on a range of topics covering all areas of the Society's work. The correspondence is routine administrative material.\nThe records are essentially background material to the Society's work, the most significant aspects of which will have been recorded in the Journal or individual printed reports, as well as in Council and committee minutes from the period.\nThe correspondence is arranged into two series. The first sequence (PR.GE.119/1-23) covers the period c.1850 to 1889, the second (PR.GE.119/24 -38) covers the years c. 1890 to c.1915. Subjects covered include:\nLectures; Examinations; Membership;Council/committee chairmen; Journal; Staff and general correspondence \n\n

The records of the Free Society of Artists were deposited with the Society after it ended its own art exhibitions in 1764.\nRecords include minutes of a committee and printed catalogues of exhibitions