Royal Society Club

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0117 RSC
Held at	: Royal Society   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://royalsociety.org/collections/ ›
Full title	: Royal Society Club
Date(s)	: 1743-
Level of description	: Sub-fonds
Extent	: 64 volumes, 6 boxes and 19 loose files
Name of creator(s)	: Royal Society Club
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Royal Society Club is a Dining Club and an independent body, membership of which is limited to Fellows of the Royal Society. The modern Club traces its lineage to the mid-18th century, although such institutions are at least as old as the Royal Society itself. Meetings are social rather than scientific, but inevitably matters of scientific interest have continued to form the main topics for discussion.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

The accounts, menus, correspondence and minutes of the Royal Society Club, from 1743 to the present, and its associated organization the Philosophical Club (founded in 1847). Early records of the Club are limited to administrative matters, notably membership, attendance of Fellows and guests, menus and accounts. Summary descriptions of speeches and discussions at weekly meetings are not available until 1847, and then only in the rival Philosophical Club volumes. The eventual merger of the two bodies in 1900 resulted in this practice being retained to date.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

30 year rule applies

Conditions governing reproduction:

No publication without written permission. Apply to Archivist in the first instance.

Finding aids:

No list available. Examples of the records preserved and discussions of their content and significance may be found in 'The Royal Society and its dining clubs' by T E Allibone (Oxford 1976).

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

'The Royal Society and its dining clubs' by T E Allibone (Oxford 1976).

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Copied from the Royal Society catalogue by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions:
General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Feb 2009.