The Society’s archive is an important resource for those seeking to learn more about Asian history and cultures. Our archival holdings incorporate the Society’s own records as well as the collections of some of the most prominent figures and societies within Asian studies.
The archives can be divided into the following types:
- The personal papers of figures involved in the work of the Society or within Asian studies.
- Records from the Society’s own institutional archive as well as material from sister branches of the RAS and other organisations.
- Special collections material. This currently includes over 70 individual collections, examples of which include Chinese Documents on Trade Regulations with the English, Notebooks on India and Extracts from the Records of Bombay and Surat.
A full listing of all our catalogued collections can be found on the Royal Asiatic Society archive catalogue. We will be adding new catalogue records regularly, so please check back for updates.
Click to see details of selected items from our archives:
Uncatalogued Archives
We also have a number of collections which are yet to be catalogued. These include:
- Personal papers of Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson (1810-1895), Assyriologist
- Personal papers of Terence Gray (Wei Wu Wei) (1895-1986), Taoist philosopher
- Personal papers of Charles Matthew Whish (1794-1833), East India Company administrator
- Personal papers of Jamal Mian Farangi Mahalli (1919-2012), Pakistani politician
- Papers of the Imeretinsky family and research material on the Bagrationi dynasty
- Sections of the Institutional Archives
To find out more about these please contact the Archivist at: jl@royalasiaticsociety.org