RSA Archive

Preserving our past. Recording our present. Inspiring our future. 

The RSA archive team are here to help.

If you are researching the Great Exhibition, the Great Room paintings by James Barry, RSA Premium Awards, or any other topic related to the RSA you have come to the right place.

Get in touch if you have any enquires or to arrange tours of our secure archive or RSA House.

Search the RSA Archive Catalogue

Our online archive includes minutes, membership lists, transactions, correspondence, artworks, photographs, and much more.

Bridgeman Images

A selection of images from the RSA available for licensing.

Sound archive

Our recordings on the British Library sound & moving image catalogue.

JSTOR

Our Transactions and Journals, 1783-2011 (Before 1870 free).

Art UK

Our page on the UK’s national collection of oil paintings.

More resources

Discovery - The National Archives

Our records in the online catalogue of record descriptions for over 2,500 archives across the country.

AIM25

Database of archive and manuscript descriptions of over 100 London-based archives.

The Royal Commission for the Exhibition Of 1851

Established in 1850 to continue the organisation of the Great Exhibition of 1851 initiated by Prince Albert and the Society of Arts.

Our history

Looking to the future since 1754. Find out more about the famous names and change made in the past.