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Printed matter including Charter and Bye Laws and Rules and Orders, miscellaneous reports, lists of Council members and officers, annual addresses to Members

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

The Society's premises were designed and build by Robert and James Adam. The building has been extended and altered over the years. \nRecords concerned with the Society's building in John Adam Street from its design and construction by the Adam Brothers and including correspondence papers, notes, leases and other legal documents, administration, management, alteration and repair of the building

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

Various House Committees were set up at different times to look at the building, its use, function, administration and management.\nRecords include minutes of House committees and correspondence and papers. Later material can be found with AD.MA/300

James Barry was born in 1741 and died in 1806. In 1777 Barry submitted a proposal to the Society to decorate the Great Room of its new premises. He offered to paint the whole room without fee, in return for canvas, paints and models. He began painting in April that year, and although he continued to alter the paintings until 1801, they were exhibited in 1783 and '84, with the proceeds going to Barry.\n\nBarry was his own publisher, and produced numerous works explaining the The Progress's symbolism, later editions of which contained appendices railing against his critics.\n\nIn 1782, Barry was elected to professor of painting at the Royal Academy, receiving a salary in return for six lectures a year. Barry used the position to engage with role of the artist in society, but went too far in putting forth his opinions and, together with his 1798 Letter to the Dilettanti Society's attacks on the state of arts patronage in England, angered the Academy was expelled in 1799. His was the Academy's only expulsion until Professor Brendan Neiland resigned in July 2004.\n\nThe Earl of Buchan came to Barry's aid after he lost his salary, paying expenses and moving him to a larger house so that he could finish his final painting, The Birth of Pandora. James Barry died in February 1806, and his body laid in state in the Society's Great Room, before being interred in St. Paul's Cathedral.

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

Printed materials

This series comprises copy photographs of early prints and engravings of the interior of the Society's House including the Great Room and former Library room. Twentieth century photographs show alterations to the property and additions and extensions including the Vaults redevelopment of 1990

The Council was established in 1846 with first its Chairmen, Edward Speer and George Bailey. The Council assumed full responsibility for the management of the Society. Chairmen of Council generally serve a two-year term of office. \nRecords include correspondence of Charles Wentworth Dilke and Lyon Playfair as well as general late 20th century correspondence and papers. earlier material can be found within AD.MA/100.

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 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/

Society campaigns at this period included:\nReport on accidents and diseases in industrial occupations; Memorial Tablet (Blue plaque) scheme Campaign for the adoption of a uniform musical pitch; Petition in support of Bethnal Green Museum; Education Exhibition 1854; Paris Exhibitions of 1855 to 1881 to report on exhibitions and attendance at International Electrical Exhibition, Committee on the Economic use of Fuel; Prizes for an improved lifeboat; Competition for a revolution indicator for steam ships; Committee on collisions at sea; International Health Exhibition; Public health and sanitation conferences; National Training School for Music; Patent Law reform; Samuel Pepys Memorial ; Prevention of Fires ; Poisonous Colours ; Motor Trials ; Acetylene Gas Generator Trials; International Postage Association and Committee on postal reform and papers; Colonial and Indian Exhibition 1886; Albert Memorial ; Conference on strikes and lockouts; Committee on collisions at sea; Domestic Economy Congresses ; Art Workmanship Competition; Committee on the deterioration of paper \nRecords include correspondence and routine administrative papers, some printed items and minutes of various committees

\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

A collection of printed books acquired by the Society by gift and purchase about international trade exhibitions. It includes exhibitions in which the Society played no part and covers the period 1851 to 1951. The collection comprises contemporary catalogues, reports of Juries and other printed accounts of exhibitions. It also includes a number of printed booklets, pamphlets and maps and some more recent general works on exhibitions. Catalogues are in order of date of exhibition. \n\nSeries comprises printed books

The Journal was established in 1852 to disseminate information about the Society's activities and included transcriptions of lectures. Unlike the annual printed Transactions which preceded it, the Journal was initially published weekly.\nRecords include files and papers on the production of the Journal and other related promotional publications and press and publicity generally. Complete runs of the Journal are available for consultation in the Research Room at the RSA. Each volume is indexed and there are cumulative 10 year indexes for the Journal up to 1952.

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.