Members' files

171 files

This series began life at about the time that Constance-Anne Parker (Bubbles) became Librarian, in 1974. Notes from Bubbles point to a concerted effort to improve information resources on past members and material was actively sought for inclusion.

Previously called "Members' Confidential" series of files. The original material is mostly correspondence and members' forms. On a member's decease files were passed up from Sidney Hutchison to Bubbles to be incorporated with the general information resource of members' biographies. The Librarian continued to add material, including correspondence between the Librarian and the member, if said material was regarded as at all "sensitive".

Many of the files on nineteenth century members contain little except autographs cut from letters. There is no clue as to when the Academy correspondence was mutilated in this manner. But circumstantial evidence points to the use of letters sent with each year's Summer Exhibition exhibits. If this is indeed the case then little has been lost to the historian.

The series remained seperate from the main run of library Members files due to the more confidential nature of the contents (ie. original correspondence and personal information), and so bears little or no administrative relationship to RAA/SEC/10, which contains orphaned letters extracted from the library files. As the project matured it seems there was a regular flow of files from the Secretary's office, upon the decease of the member concerned. Files of this type ceased to be passed to the Library upon the creation of the Membership office in 1996 and the last of the Secretary's files of this type can be found in RAA/SEC/29/3; their continuance can be found in the records of the Membership office.

A great deal of material of ephemeral importance has been removed from this series, for instance - library enquiries were routinely placed in the relevant file and these have all been removed.

The series is now closed. No material has been added to these files since approximately 1998.

The files are arranged in a strict alphabetical order.