Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1970 - 1973 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
7 items typed and handwritten
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'. It continues as a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas.
Name of creator
Administrative history
Name of creator
Biographical history
Simon Everard Digby was born in India in 1932 and was educated at Stowe School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He travelled in India and Pakistan before returning to England to complete a PhD at the School of Oriental and Africa Studies. He returned to India in 1961-1962 and continued to make trips to India throughout his life. He was Honorary Librarian of the Royal Asiatic Society from 1968-1984. During this time he worked to identify some of these documents. In 1972 he was appointed to a post in the Department of Eastern Art of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. He also taught and examined post-graduate students at SOAS. He died in Delhi in 2010 from pancreatic cancer.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Correspondence concerning an exhibition in the Print Room of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. These are:
- Letter from Jim Harle to John to suggest the idea of having an exhibition in Oxford as part of the sesquicentenary celebrations, dated 2 October 1970.
- Letter from B.W. Robinson, President of Royal Asiatic Society, to Dr James Harle, Department of Eastern Art, Ashmolean Museum, to ask whether an exhibition might be possible at the Ashmolean Museum, dated 20 November 1972.
- Letter from Dr James Harle, Department of Eastern Art, Ashmolean Museum, to B.W. Robinson, President of Royal Asiatic Society, to give his ideas for an exhibition at the Ashmolean and that he would begin planning, dated 28 November 1972.
- Letter from Diana Crawford, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to Dr James Harle, Department of Eastern Art, Ashmolean Museum, to ask for firm dates for the exhibition, dated 1 March 1973.
- Letter from Dr James Harle, Department of Eastern Art, Ashmolean Museum, to Diana Crawford, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to inform her that the exhibition will run through May 1973 and will be held in the Print Room with material mainly from the Bodleian Library, dated 7 March 1973.
- Letter from Diana Crawford, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to Dr James Harle, Department of Eastern Art, Ashmolean Museum, to thank him for the details concerning the exhibition and to ask that requests for any loans of material to be sent for the next Council meeting, dated 12 March 1973.
- Letter from Simon Digby to Diana Crawford, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to inform her of the material he will be collecting from the Royal Asiatic Society to take to the Ashmolean Museum, dated 27 April 1973.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
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Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
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Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
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Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
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Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (Subject)
- Ashmolean Museum (Subject)