July Open House change of date, Archive stock take and new funding for research

Our Monthly Open House provides an opportunity to take a self-guided tour of the RSA House free of charge. Open House takes place from 10am to 1pm (last admission 12.30pm) usually on the first Sunday of each month (excepting January). However, this date is subject to change and in July Open House will be held on the second Sunday, the 8th. Anybody interested is welcome to attend, there is no need to book in advance.

The Archive will undertake its annual stock take during July. As a result we will unfortunately be closed to researchers and for tours of the building throughout the period 9-20 July. We will however be able to receive enquiries by telephone, post and e-mail as usual, although responses may be a little delayed.

The William Shipley Group is an independent body with close links to the RSA (the Archivist sits as an observer on its committee) which amongst other things seeks to promote awareness of the Society and its archives. The Group has recently established a research and publication fund and has awarded a grant to Martyn Walker, Head of Department for Post Compulsory Education and Training at the University of Huddersfield. Martyn is researching the Huddersfield Mechanics Institution and the Society, and recently visited the Archive to look at minutes, correspondence and other papers that relate to this interesting area of the Society's activities. Mechanics institutions were a pioneering form of education for working people in the 19th century, and they and similar organisations were in due course invited to join the Society as part of what was called the Union of Institutions. The Union existed in this form only until the 1880s, but it led amongst other things to the establishment of the Society's examinations. The first of these to be held outside London were in Huddersfield, in 1857. We look forward to seeing the results of Martyn's research in due course.