The RAS Membership Archive

23 May 2025

I am pleased to say that the catalogue for the Society’s Membership archive has now been published here. This collection forms part of the Society’s institutional archives, and contains mainly 20th-century material which is now housed in nine archival boxes. The collection is further divided into seven series in the catalogue for ease of navigation. These records document the relationship between the Society and its members over the past two centuries – there are administrative and financial records such as committee minutes, membership lists and application forms, as well as textual, visual and printed material relating to members which came into the Society’s holdings as a result of its interaction with members.

Extract from the printed list of members, July 1934 (RAS MEMB/1/1)

The Royal Asiatic Society has operated as a membership organisation since its founding. Types of membership and rules governing membership application and election, however, have evolved over time. In its early years, apart from what was called the ‘Ordinary Members’, the Society created other types of membership to differentiate members’ nationality and build new connections. One such type was Honorary Membership, which – according to the 1830 edition of the Rules of the Society, was conferred on ‘foreigners of eminent rank or situation, or persons who have contributed to the attainment of the objects of the Society in a distinguished manner’. Today, the Society carries on the tradition of honouring individuals who have made remarkable contributions to the Society by conferring on them the title of Honorary Fellow.

Diploma of Honorary Membership for Louis Massignon, D. Litt Professeur au College de France, 14 June 1927 (RAS MEMB/5/4/2)

Many letters regarding proposal and conferment of Honorary Membership and Fellow Extraordinary Membership, another nominal type of membership for foreign potentates and distinguished officials, have survived in the archive. These illustrate the Society’s commitments to encouraging and recognising academic excellence in the field of Asian studies and strengthening connections with Asian nations. These letters are catalogued as separate sub-series under RAS MEMB/3 Members’ Correspondence, along with letters with the Society’s ordinary members. Highlights from this series include letters conveying acceptance from Ikbal Al Doulah, a cousin of the nawab of the Indian princely state of Awadh, in 1839; from Danrong Rajanubhab, Prince of Siam, in 1934; and from various foremost scholars across continental Europe and further afield in the 20th century.

Letter from Ikbal Al Doulah acknowledging his election as an Honorary Member, [1839] (RAS MEMB/3/2/1)

The archive also has a fairly complete run of membership ledgers from the 20th century, recording subscription payments from members (RAS MEMB/4). Of particular interest is the only surviving volume from the 19th century. In fact, this is arguably the first membership ledger of the Society, listing the financial transactions from 1823 to 1838. Despite being quite mundane in nature, it is the content of this volume that prompted the detailed biographical research by Peter Collin, a long-time RAS member, into the early members of the Society (1823-1825). The research resulted in a prosopography of the Society’s founding members which has opened up various leads for researching early members’ relationships with the Society.

Extract from Subscriptions Ledger. 1823-1838 (RAS MEMB/4/1)

It has been a pleasure sorting, researching and cataloguing these records, which allowed me to gain insights into the Society’s historical management of membership. Membership remains a fundamental aspect of the Society’s existence today – an active, collegial and thriving membership supports the Society’s mission of facilitating the exchange of ideas in the fields of Asian history, language, culture and religion. I am excited to see what new membership records would be added to the collection in future.

Letter introducing the activities of the Society and encouraging membership, 15 March 1938 (RAS MEMB/6/2/1)

We still have a few sections within the Society’s institutional archives that are yet to be properly catalogued, most notably the Publications archive. This would account for a longer-term cataloguing project which I hope to get around to in the coming months. In the meantime, if you are interested in seeing some of these newly catalogued membership records, feel free to get in touch!

James Liu