1823-1969

Little specific material was kept from the early days of the Society. Most of the information concerning this time will be found in the Council Minutes. The majority of the material in this series dates from the 1930s onwards. The material is:
* A specimen loan agreement form for a manuscript between the Royal Asiatic Society, Albemarle St and some unstated recipient. The Royal Asiatic Society leased the premises at 22 Albemarle Street from 1869-1919, therefore the forms date from this period. Two copies, printed as though handwritten.
* Correspondence between Col. D.M.F. Hoysted, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, and E.H. Johnston, Keeper, Indian Institute, Oxford concerning the loan of some terracotta sealings and inscribed stones to the Institute. Four letters and a list, handwritten and typed, dated 11 January 1937 - 12 March 1938.
* Correspondence between the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the loan of some Persian manuscripts for the museum's exhibition, 'Six Centuries of Persian Painting' organised by Basil W. Robinson. Five letters and one list, typed, dated 30 September 1966 - 22 September 1967.
* Correspondence between the Arts Council of Great Britain, London, and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the loan of the Society's copy of Rustaveli's 'The Man in the Panther Skin' for the exhibition, 'Great Britain - U.S.S.R.: an historical exhibition'. Five letters, one notice of the exhibition, all typed, plus a news cutting from the Times (13 January 1967), dated 11 January 1967 - 26 April 1967.
* Correspondence between the Stedelijk Museum, Delft, Netherlands, and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the potential loan of two manuscripts for the museum's exhibition, 'Het Prinsenhof', an exhibition of Asiatic miniatures. The loan was declined by the Society. Two letters, typed, dated 26 May 1967 - 16 June 1967.
* Correspondence between the British Museum and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the potential indefinite loan of a Kashmiri bronze of a seated Bodhisattva to the museum's collection of Indian sub-continent bronzes. The loan was declined by the Society. Four letters, handwritten and typed, dated 22 November 1967 - 1 January 1968.
* Correspondence between the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York, the British Museum and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the potential loan of material from both the British Museum and the RAS for an exhibition about Herat. Two letters, handwritten and typed, dated 5 January 1967(8) and 16 January 1968.
* Correspondence between Reading Museum and Art Gallery, Berkshire, England, and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the loan of the Society's portrait of Lt. Col. William Lambton for an exhibition of the Works of William Havell taking place in February and March 1970. Six letters and one notice of loan, all typed, dated 28 October 1969 - 24 April 1970, plus a printed invitation to the private view of the Exhibition. There is further correspondence concerning the loan of the portrait again for the William Havell bicentenary in 1982. The decision was made not to include the portrait in this exhibition. Three letters, typed, dated 15 April 1981 - 17 August 1981.

The Indian Institute was an institute within the University of Oxford. It was started by Sir Monier Monier-Williams in 1883 to provide training for the Indian Civil Service. The institute's building is located in central Oxford, England, at the north end of Catte Street, on the corner with Holywell Street, and facing down Broad Street from the east. The original Indian Institute building is now the Oxford Martin School of the University of Oxford, the History Faculty having moved to the old City of Oxford School building on George Street and its library to the Bodleian site.

The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (later merged into Creative Scotland), and the Arts Council of Wales. In January 1940, during the Second World War, the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts was appointed to help promote and maintain British culture. Chaired by Lord De La Warr, President of the Board of Education, the council was government-funded and after the war was renamed the Arts Council of Great Britain. Reginald Jacques was appointed musical director with Sir Henry Walford Davies and George Dyson also involved. John Denison took over after the war. A royal charter was granted on 9 August 1946 followed by another in 1967. The latter provided for functions in Scotland and Wales to be conducted by two committees known as the Scottish and Welsh Arts Councils – the basis for the later Scottish Arts Council and Arts Council of Wales.

The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. On 7 June 1753, King George II gave his royal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. The British Museum Act 1753 added two other libraries to the Sir Hans Sloane collection, those of the Cottonian Library, assembled by Sir Robert Cotton, dating back to Elizabethan times, and the Harleian Library, the collection of the Earls of Oxford. They were joined in 1757 by the "Old Royal Library", now the Royal manuscripts, assembled by various British monarchs.
Montagu House, c. 1715
The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public and aiming to collect everything. Sloane's collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests.[16] The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary and antiquarian element, and meant that the British Museum now became both National Museum and library

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the fourth-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. The New York State Legislature granted the Metropolitan Museum of Art an Act of Incorporation on April 13, 1870, "for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in said City a Museum and Library of Art, of encouraging and developing the Study of the Fine Arts, and the application of Art to manufacture and natural life, of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects, and to that end of furnishing popular instruction and recreations". This legislation was supplemented later by the 1893 Act, Chapter 476, which required that its collections "shall be kept open and accessible to the public free of all charge throughout the year". The founders included businessmen and financiers, among them Theodore Roosevelt Sr., the father of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the US, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day, who wanted to open a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. Henry Gurdon Marquand donated an important part of his collection of Old Masters paintings to the fledgling institution. The museum first opened on February 20, 1872, housed in a building located at 681 Fifth Avenue.

Reading Museum is a museum, located in the Town Hall, of the history of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, and the surrounding area. Reading Town Hall was built in several phases between 1786 and 1897, although the principal façade was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1875. In 1879, the foundation stone was laid for a new wing containing a library and museum, and the museum duly opened in 1883. The museum displayed a large eclectic collection from the late Horatio Bland. Three art galleries were added in further extension in 1897In 1975, the civic offices moved out of the Town Hall to Reading Civic Centre. They were followed in 1985 by the Reading Central Library which left only the museum and the concert hall in use. After some debate, plans to demolish the Town Hall and replace it with a new cultural centre were abandoned, and in 1986 refurbishment of the building started. The museum was closed for renewal in 1989, reopening in stages from 1993 (the Reading: People & Place gallery) to 2000.

The Indian Institute was an institute within the University of Oxford. It was started by Sir Monier Monier-Williams in 1883 to provide training for the Indian Civil Service. The institute's building is located in central Oxford, England, at the north end of Catte Street, on the corner with Holywell Street, and facing down Broad Street from the east. The original Indian Institute building is now the Oxford Martin School of the University of Oxford, the History Faculty having moved to the old City of Oxford School building on George Street and its library to the Bodleian site.

The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (later merged into Creative Scotland), and the Arts Council of Wales. In January 1940, during the Second World War, the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts was appointed to help promote and maintain British culture. Chaired by Lord De La Warr, President of the Board of Education, the council was government-funded and after the war was renamed the Arts Council of Great Britain. Reginald Jacques was appointed musical director with Sir Henry Walford Davies and George Dyson also involved. John Denison took over after the war. A royal charter was granted on 9 August 1946 followed by another in 1967. The latter provided for functions in Scotland and Wales to be conducted by two committees known as the Scottish and Welsh Arts Councils – the basis for the later Scottish Arts Council and Arts Council of Wales.

The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. On 7 June 1753, King George II gave his royal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. The British Museum Act 1753 added two other libraries to the Sir Hans Sloane collection, those of the Cottonian Library, assembled by Sir Robert Cotton, dating back to Elizabethan times, and the Harleian Library, the collection of the Earls of Oxford. They were joined in 1757 by the "Old Royal Library", now the Royal manuscripts, assembled by various British monarchs.
Montagu House, c. 1715
The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public and aiming to collect everything. Sloane's collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests.[16] The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary and antiquarian element, and meant that the British Museum now became both National Museum and library

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the fourth-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. The New York State Legislature granted the Metropolitan Museum of Art an Act of Incorporation on April 13, 1870, "for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in said City a Museum and Library of Art, of encouraging and developing the Study of the Fine Arts, and the application of Art to manufacture and natural life, of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects, and to that end of furnishing popular instruction and recreations". This legislation was supplemented later by the 1893 Act, Chapter 476, which required that its collections "shall be kept open and accessible to the public free of all charge throughout the year". The founders included businessmen and financiers, among them Theodore Roosevelt Sr., the father of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the US, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day, who wanted to open a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. Henry Gurdon Marquand donated an important part of his collection of Old Masters paintings to the fledgling institution. The museum first opened on February 20, 1872, housed in a building located at 681 Fifth Avenue.

Reading Museum is a museum, located in the Town Hall, of the history of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, and the surrounding area. Reading Town Hall was built in several phases between 1786 and 1897, although the principal façade was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1875. In 1879, the foundation stone was laid for a new wing containing a library and museum, and the museum duly opened in 1883. The museum displayed a large eclectic collection from the late Horatio Bland. Three art galleries were added in further extension in 1897In 1975, the civic offices moved out of the Town Hall to Reading Civic Centre. They were followed in 1985 by the Reading Central Library which left only the museum and the concert hall in use. After some debate, plans to demolish the Town Hall and replace it with a new cultural centre were abandoned, and in 1986 refurbishment of the building started. The museum was closed for renewal in 1989, reopening in stages from 1993 (the Reading: People & Place gallery) to 2000.

Published