The material within this collection comprises of correspondence and publications by and about Richard Francis Burton and his wife Isabel Burton (nee Arundell). There are also two photographs of Burton and artefacts.

Also included within this Collection are correspondence concerning the acquisition of the material by the RAS and some supplementary material regarding Oscar Eckenstein, its original collector.

A series of letters sent from Mauritius concerning the setting up of an astronomy observatory. Dated from 1829-1831. Also a copy of the Mauritius Gazette, Saturday 20th June 1829 containing an article on astronomy.

This archive consists of lists and correspondence concerned with the disposal of items in the Collections of the Society. The Society has not kept comprehensive records throughout its history. Further information pertaining to Disposals of the Society may be found in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society and in the Minute books for the Council and General Meetings. Disposals may 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.

This catalogue contains the policy documents of the Society regarding Collections management. Because of the relatively small nature of the Society, historically many such policy decisions have been made by its Council or Library Committee, recorded in the Minutes of the Meetings, and these Minutes used as the "policy documents". Further some Collections management policy is covered by the Charters and Byelaws of the Society. Therefore researchers of policy decisions should also consult these materials.
The creation of policies and their updating is an ongoing process. Historic ones have been added to this catalogue; and others will be added as they become available.

All new researchers have to register their details before accessing the Collections. For the most part these exist only as current records and are disposed of at the end of their retention schedule. There is only one historic document that has been kept related in some way to researcher registration. This is a bound leather volume entitled "Names of Visitors to the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society, Great Britain and Ireland, 1832". At this time the Society had in its possessions many museum objects. The majority of these have now been dispersed to other institutions.
The volume is a registration book for visitors to the Museum covering the period January 1832-January 1840 on pp.1-123, and February 1848-June 1849 on pp. 125-126. It should be noted that on the outside of the Ledger is a label which reads "Committee of Agriculture and Commerce" and on pp.151-157 is an article, "Cost of Carrying Cotton" extracted from "The Friends of India..." dated 23 July 1861. On pp. 158-159 is an extract from the Council Meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, 16 January 1871. The other pages are hand-numbered but are blank. Leather bound volume with ruled pages, handwritten. The binding is in a fragile condition and the leather has some red rot.

This material was collated in the interactions between the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch and the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. It consists mainly of correspondence between the Societies, and newsletters and publications details of the Korea Branch.

The Royal Asiatic Society rented rooms at 73 Collier Street from 2005-2006 while alterations were made at the newly purchased 14 Stephenson Way property. Items from this rental are:

• Plan of the rooms to be rented, dated 24 June 2005.
• Letter from Mark Winkler, Beaumont & Co., to Alison Ohta, Royal Asiatic Society, to set out the proposed head of terms for occupation of the rooms at 73 Collier Street, dated 30 June 2005.
• Licence Agreement between Manchester Square Properties Ltd. and the Royal Asiatic Society regarding the rental of the rooms for the time period 14 July 2005-13 July 2006. Signed and dated 13 July 2005.
• Letter from Alison Ohta, Curator, Royal Asiatic Society, to The Manager, Lloyds TSB Bank, Baywater Branch, to agree payment to Manchester Square Properties Ltd., dated 13 July 2005.
• "List of Furniture to take to Collier Street" - inventory of furniture, undated.
• "Notification of Change of Address from Queen's Gardens to 73 Collier Street - 2 printed cards.