Council Minutes Original

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0117 CMO
Held at	: Royal Society   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://royalsociety.org/collections/ ›
Full title	: Council Minutes Original
Date(s)	: 1663-
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 75 volumes
Name of creator(s)	: Royal Society
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Minutes of the meetings of Council from 1663, concerned with the business and administration of the Society. Entries record discussions of all matters relating to the Society's constitution, activities, awards, funds, bequests, buildings, and staff. The Council Minutes exist in three main forms. The Original Minutes (currently 75 volumes, from 1663) were copied in the manner of the Journal Books until 1822 (8 volumes, 1663-1822). From 1832 the Minutes were printed for distribution to Council Members, and bound sets retained by the Society. Printed agenda for Council meetings have been pasted into bound volumes and annotated since 1950 (currently 24 volumes, 1950-1975). Papers have been kept separately since 1945.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

By date.

Conditions governing access:

Closed for 30 years after creation.

Conditions governing reproduction:

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

Finding aids:

Volumes 1-2 have index for 1663-1727. Separate index to Volumes 1-8, 1663-1811, Volume 9, 1811-1822 has a short but incomplete index.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Allied Materials

Related material:

Council Minutes Copy (1663-1822). Printed version in addition to manuscript minutes from 1832. MSG 407 'Alphabetical index to the printed minutes' by P.M. Roget is a guide to most of the first volume of printed minutes, 1832-1844. MSG 801 is a subject index for the subjects under discussion in volumes 1-4 of the printed minutes, 1832-1877. There are various series of rough minutes with some copies in the Manuscripts General series (MSG.629-47, 19 volumes, 1665-1870 and MSG 800, 5 boxes, 1885-1896). The Council Minutes Original are printed with the Journal Book Original in 'History of the Royal Society' (London, 1756-1757) by Thomas Birch for the period 1660-1687. An index to the proper names in Birch by Gail Ewald Scala was published in 'Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London' Volume 28, No. 2 (1974). The minutes 1663-1800 are published on microfilm by University publications of America.

Publication note:

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.