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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 George Staunton Prize was initiated in 2007 for an article by a young scholar working on topics related to the history, archaeology, literature, language, religion, anthropology and art of Asia. A 'young scholar' was defined as someone in the process of completing their PhD or someone who has been awarded their doctorate within the previous five years. Award winning submissions were published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society and the winners received a prize of £250. Since its initiation the Prize has been awarded irregularly. Winners include:

• 2007- Nile Green for the article, ‘Jack Sepoy and the Dervishes: Islam and the Indian Soldier in Princely India’.
• 2008 - S.P. Ong for the article, 'Jurisdictional Politics in Canton and the First English Translation of the Qing Penal Code (1810)'.
• 2010 - joint winners: Felicia Yap for 'Eurasians in British Asia during the Second World War' and Martin Worthington for 'On Names and Artistic Unity in the Standard Version of the Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic'.
• 2014 - Dr Fozia Bora for her article, 'Did Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Destroy the Fatimids' Books? Historiographical Enquiry'.
• 2023 - Dr Kelsey Granger for her article, 'From Tomb-Keeper to Tomb-Occupant: The Changing Conceptualisation of Dogs in Early China'.

There is limited archival material at this stage but it contains:

2007

• One letter to enter an article for the prize, dated 26 May 2007.
• Official letter from Charlotte de Blois, Executive Editor, Royal Asiatic Society, to Nile Green to inform that he has been awarded the prize. Digital document, dated 30 May 2008.
• Copies of emails between Nile Green, Charlotte de Blois and Sarah Ansari, Honorary Editor, concerning receiving the prize, Typed, 1 piece, dated 2 May 2008.

2008

• One letter to enter an article for the prize, dated 28 May 2008.
• Copies of emails between Charlotte de Blois and Sujit Sivasundaram concerning assessment of entered essays. Typed, 2 pieces, dated 1 July - 14 November 2008.

2010

• Two letters to enter an article for the prize, dated 15 and 27 October 2010.

2011

• Two letters to enter an article for the prize, undated.
• Advertisement for submissions for both the Professor Mary Boyce Prize and the Sir George Staunton Prize.

2014

• 'Staunton Submissions' - list of candidates and their referees. Digital document, undated.
• 'Staunton Opinions' - summary of opinions of the judges for the articles submitted. Digital document, undated.

2015

• Advertisement for the Sir George Staunton Prize, articles to be submitted before 31 December 2015.

The Denis Sinor Medal was inaugurated in 1993 by Professor Denis Sinor, specifically to honour scholars in the field of Inner Asian Studies. He donated a sum of money at the initiation of the award and more was bequeathed after his death. The material contains correspondence and administrative documents concerned with the inauguration of the award and further legacy, and for awarding of the medal to scholars of Inner Asian studies.

The Bayly Prize was established by friends and colleagues to mark the outstanding contribution of Professor Sir Christopher Bayly FBA to the study of world history and that of Asia in particular. It is an £2500 award for a distinguished thesis in an Asian subject falling within the scope of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society or of Modern Asian Studies. The thesis must have been examined and approved for the PhD degree at a British University in the year preceding entry to the competition. It was first awarded in 2018 and has been awarded annually since.

The winners have been:

• 2018 - Johannes Lotze (University of Manchester) for the thesis, Translation of Empire: Mongol Legacy, Language Policy, and the Early Ming World Order, 1368-1453.
• 2019 - Lexi (Alexandra) Stadlen (London School of Economics) for the thesis, Weaving lives from Violence: Possibility and Change for Muslim Women in West Bengal.
• 2020 - Liana Chase (School of Oriental and African Studies) for the thesis, Healing ‘Heart-Minds’: Disaster, Care, and Global Mental Health in Nepal’s Himalayan Foothills.
• 2021 - Mallika Leuzinger (University College, London) for the thesis, Dwelling in Photography: Intimacy, Amateurism and the Camera in South Asia.
• 2022 - Sonia Wigh (University of Exeter) for the thesis, The Body of Words: A social history of sex and the body in early modern South Asia.
• 2023 - Thomas Barrett (University of Oxford) for the thesis, Foreigners and the Making of the Chinese Diplomat.

There are administrative documents, invitations, publicity and photographs from the award events.

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.

These records were produced in administrating the finances of the Society. Much of the day-to-day finance records have not been kept. The archival documents include signed accounts, dealings with the Charity Commission and Inland Revenue, administrations of grants, donations and bequests, and Minutes of a Fundraising Committee,

This archive consists of correspondence, documentation, reports and allied material concerned with the loans of the Collections of the Society to other institutions predominantly for exhibition but sometimes for more long-term care. The Society has not kept comprehensive records throughout its history. Further information pertaining to the Loans from the Society can be found in the Minutes for the meetings of the Council and Library Committees. Loans continue in the life of the Society. More recent ones are held in the Society's records management system and will be transferred to the archive in due course.

The Society's collections have always been open for researchers to come and use. This in turn has generated additional information concerning the collections both formally through articles and research papers and informally through correspondence. The Society has also sought to promote its collections through both events and articles. The papers within this series concern these activities. Though much of the administration of these activities does not create items of archival value, the ones kept were deemed to be of use for future researchers.

This archive consists of correspondence, documentation, reports and allied material concerned with the conservation of the Collections of the Society. The Society has not kept comprehensive records throughout its history. Further information pertaining to the conservation of the collections may be found in the Minutes for the meetings of the Council and Library Committees. Conservation continues in the life of the Society. More recent records are held in the Society's records management system and will be transferred to the archive in due course.