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The Barwis-Holliday was established in 1977 by the donation of investments to the value of £690 by Major J.E. Barwis-Holliday and supplemented by a bequest of £1,000 from the estate of the donor. The income was to be used to finance a monetary award for a paper upon a Far-Eastern subject to be published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. These papers consist of material created in the administration and conferment of the award.

The Royal Asiatic Society Medal was instigated in 2000 to replace the Society's Triennial Gold Medal and to be awarded in recognition of an outstanding contribution to scholarship in the field of Asian Studies. A new design for the Medal was sought and this was commissioned from Danuta Solowiej-Wedderburn. The medal took longstanding symbols of the Society and gave them a modern twist. She suggested:

'The starting point for the design of the medal was an article by John Hansman in the Society's Journal of 1984: ‘The Emblems, Medals and Medallists of The Royal Asiatic Society’. I was very inspired by the Daniells’ design of a caparisoned elephant for a signet, first produced in 1824, which was used to seal letters and documents. A simplified version of this design by Professor Perceval Yetts has become the ‘logo’ of the society, stamped on its letter head and on all its publications, and so it was a particularly appropriate image to use. I depicted the signet impressed into the brass as if it were wax, to act as a metaphor for the medal as a ‘seal of approval’. Unlike most Victorian award medals the lettering is incised, this is so that it will blend in with the name of the recipient, which obviously has to be engraved at a later date. In 1823 the Banyan tree was chosen for the society’s official seal by the Council and it has been depicted on previous medals commissioned by the society. It is a magnificent tree and an apt symbol of the society, growing strong and branching out. The medal was cast (rather than struck) which allows for more depth in modelling and I tried to take advantage of that by depicting the tree as a mature and vigorous plant, still growing strongly.' (Email, see details in the catalogue).

The medal was first awarded to John Gullick in 2001 with subsequent awards being made:
2003 – Professor Edmund Bosworth
2006 – Professor Christopher Shackle
2009 – Professor Sir Christopher Bayly
2014 – Dr Bridget Allchin and Professor David Bivar
2019 - Professors Carole and Robert Hillenbrand
2023 – Robert Irwin

The material covered by this catalogue consists of correspondence and administrative documents concerning the setting up of the award and the commissioning of the medal, and the individual awards. There are also photographs of some of the award events and a sample of the medal.

Correspondence concerning, and drafts of papers read at, General Meetings. Lists of lecture dates for 1865 and 1868.

Correspondence and printed material concerned with lectures and General Meetings held at the Society between 1960-1969.

Meeting Cards, Admittance Tickets and Correspondence connected to Lectures and General Meetings held between 1970 and 1979.

Material from Exhibitions between 2000 and 2010.

2002
27 May: Exhibition to mark ten years conservation work undertaken by NADFAS (the Arts Society) from 1991-2002.

• Notice of the date of the exhibition.

2008
18-21 May: 'In Good Company - The Royal Asiatic Society and India', an exhibition held at Christie's, King Street, London.

• Exhibition catalogue, printed material, 2 copies.

Information regarding conferences and study events held from 2000-2001. These are:

2000
7 July: One-day symposium, 'Grand Narratives of Transformation and the Historiography of South Asia', held at the Royal Asiatic Society, with keynote speaker, Professor Peter van de Veer.

• Programme for the day including abstracts for the papers to be delivered, 8 pieces.
• Correspondence concerning expenditure, 3 pieces, dated 27 July-10 October 2000.

28 July: Fourth Annual Colloquium of The History of Christian Missions in Asia, 'Indigenous Clergies and Enculturation', held at the Royal Asiatic Society, chaired by Dr John Villiers.

• Application form for attendance at the Colloquium, 1 item.
• Programme for the day listing speakers and the papers they presented, 1 item.
• Correspondence concerned with the administration of the event, 4 pieces, dated 2 October 1998 - 16 August 2000.

2001
22-24 February: 'Asceticism and Power in the Asian Context', co-organised by the Royal Asiatic Society and the School of Oriental and African Studies, and supported by The British Academy.

• Conference Programme detailing events, speakers and papers presented, 3 pieces.

8 May: 'Royal Asiatic Society, Symposium on the Manuscript Collection', held at the Royal Asiatic Society.

• Application form for attendance at the Symposium, 1 item.
• Programme for the event listing speakers and the papers they presented, 1 item.

Information regarding conferences and study events held from 2007-2010. These are:

2007
17-18 May: The International Seminar, 'Britain and the Malay World' , organised by the Royal Asiatic Society in collaboration with the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

• Programme including abstracts for papers presented, spiral bound book, with 3 additional pages inserted regarding accommodation and Malaysian restaurants in London.
• Sample invitation for the reception to celebrate the symposium held in honour of the 50th anniversary of Malaysia's independence.
• Correspondence concerning the administration of the seminar, 10 pieces, dated 12 December 2006-11 September 2007.

27 July: A Workshop on ' Historiography, pedagogy and future histories of 1857', held at the Royal Asiatic Society with funding by the Society, the British Academy and the University of Edinburgh's 'Mutiny at the Margins' research project.

• Programme for the event with list of speakers and papers presented, 2 versions, 3 pieces.

2008
4 October: Study Day, 'A Journey through Kazakhstan', in association with The British Museum, the Royal Asiatic Society and the British-Kazakh Society, held at the BP Lecture Theatre, British Museum.

• Programmes for the study day, 4 versions of differing detail, the most detailed containing full abstracts for the papers, 21 pieces.
• Correspondence of congratulations on the success of the day, 1 piece, undated.
• CD-ROM produced by the British-Kazakh Society of the Kazakh Study Day.

Information regarding conferences and study events held from 2011-2020. There is little material for these events as yet available archivally. The documents within the archives are:

2015
26 September: 'Updating Hodgson: A Study day on the work of Brian Houghton Hodgson, 'Father of Himalayan Studies', held at the Royal Asiatic Society in association with the Bagri Foundation.

• Publicity poster with a programme containing speakers and their papers, and further background information, 3 pieces.

9-10 October: 'Muslim South Asia Graduate Conference 2015', convened by the Muslim South Asia Research Forum, Royal Asiatic Society, and SOAS; and held at SOAS.

• Publicity poster advertising the conference and the keynote speaker, Professor Michael Boivin, 1 piece.
• Conference programme listing panels, speakers and papers presented, 2 pieces.

Material from events held between 1921 and 1960:

1928
On 8 May 1928 a luncheon was held in honour of Sir George Grierson's completion of the Linguistic Survey of India.

• Invitation from the President and Council of the Royal Asiatic Society to attend the luncheon, printed on headed notepaper.
• Menu card for the luncheon held at The Criterion Restaurant, Piccadilly Circus.

1934

• Invitation card from the Royal Asiatic Society to meet His Excellency the Persian Minister on the occasion of the Thousandth Anniversary of the Persian Poet, Firdausi, 1 November 1934, printed card, 2 copies.
• Invitation card from the Royal Asiatic Society to honour the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Alexander Csoma de Koros, at which Sir Denison Ross lectured on 'The Foundation of Tibetan Studies in India', 13 December 1934, printed card.

1936
On 15 October 1936, the Royal Asiatic Society held a Reception at The London Museum, Lancaster House, to honour the 1000th Anniversary of Mutanabbi.

• Invitation card to meet Their Excellencies, The Ministers of the Arabic Speaking States, at the Reception when Professor R.A. Nicholson lectured on 'Mutanabbi: the Man and the Poet', printed card.
• Order of events for the Reception, printed paper.

1937

• Invitation from the President and Council of the Royal Asiatic Society to a reception at India House, Aldwych, to meet The Most Honourable the Marquess of Zetland, Secretary of State for India, on the occasion of the Coronation of George VI, 6 May 1937, printed card.

Undated

• Black and white photograph showing a party sat at tables. The napkin identifies the venue as Young's Chinese Restaurant, 178-180 Wardour Street, Soho. The photograph was produced by Rawood Limited who were active from the 1930s to 1950s.
• Unmarked seating plan for the Imperial Restaurant, printed by Wormalds, Printers, Church Street, Soho, London.