Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Collections

The Royal Commonwealth Society collections comprise the photographic and archival collections of the Society founded in 1868 and known successively as the Colonial Society, the Royal Colonial Institute, the Royal Empire Society and finally the Royal Commonwealth Society. They document and illustrate the history of the British Empire, the Commonwealth and member countries, as well as, to a lesser extent, the empires of rival nations. The collections moved to Cambridge University Library in 1993.

For a short online history of the collecton, see: www.lib.cam.ac.uk/rcs_photo_project/history1.html

Although the RCS Library is not actively collecting new archival collections, it still accepts donations of complementary material periodically.

For more published information about the collections, see:

"Commonwealth in focus: 130 years of photographic history Festival '82" (International Cultural Corporation of Australia 1982). This is a catalogue of an exhibition sponsored by the Australia Council and arranged by the Royal Commonwealth Society.

Peter Fox (ed), "Cambridge University Library: the great collections" (Cambridge University Press 1998)

Trevor R. Reese, "The history of the Royal Commonwealth Society 1858-1968" (Oxford University Press 1968)

Donald H. Simpson (ed), "The manuscript catalogue of the library of the Royal Commonwealth Society" (London: Mansell 1975)

Donald H. Simpson, "Biography catalogue of the library of the Royal Commonwealth Society" (London: Royal Commonwealth Society 1961)