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Library and Information Services

Collections

Detailed descriptions of the Society’s archive holdings can be accessed via the Archives Catalogue (coming in spring 2013), but an overview of the scope of the collections can be found below.

The Archives are split into two main collection series: Business Papers and Deposited Papers.

Business Papers

The Society’s own official records, from its foundation in 1807, which notably includes material on:

  • ‘Ordinary’ Meetings, 1807-1998
    The original, scientific meetings of the Society at which papers were presented and new members were elected. Before the Council was established in 1810, all business concerning the running of the Society was discussed at Ordinary Meetings.
  • Annual General Meetings, 1809-2000
    The first rules of the Society, dating from 1808, called for an Annual General Meeting at the end of June, at which officers were to be elected, accounts presented and a subscription raised. In 1811 it was agreed that an anniversary dinner should be held on the day following the AGM. By 1818 the AGM and Anniversary Dinner were being held in February but are now held in June. A presidential address was first read in 1828, and from 1835 the AGM included the presentation of medals and other awards. 
  • Council Meetings, 1810 to present
    Council is responsible for the management and direction of all the affairs of the Society. The first members were appointed on 1 June 1810, holding their inaugural meeting two weeks later on the 14 June.
  • Special General Meetings, 1828-2001
    A Special General Meeting can be called at any time for the purpose of taking special matters relating to the business of the Society into consideration. No other business may be discussed other than that for which the meeting was called. Special General Meetings mostly concern establishing, modifying or repealing orders or byelaws.

  • Rules and byelaws, 1808 to present

  • Fellowship and Membership, 1807 to present
    Up until 1825, there were only two categories of membership – Ordinary Member and Honorary Member. In 1826, to reflect the Society's new Royal Charter (awarded in 1825), Ordinary Members became 'Fellows' and Honorary Members became 'Foreign Members'. ‘Foreign Correspondent’ a stage below Foreign Member was added in 1863 and in 1974 the two ‘Foreign’ categories were merged to become ‘Honorary Fellow’. Other categories have been added in recent years, notably ‘Chartered Geologist’, a professional grade of membership.
  • Production and sales of the Society’s journals, 1818-[2001]
    The ‘Transactions of the Geological Society of London’ was the Society’s first journal, issued in 1811. In 1822 it was replaced by a cheaper to produce second series which continued until 1856. Between 1827-1845 a ‘Proceedings of the Geological Society of London’ was issued. From 1845 this was effectively replaced by the ‘Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London’ [now ‘Journal of the Geological Society of London], however an ‘Abstracts of the Proceedings of the Geological Society of London’ was produced between 1857-1971. As the main function of all of the journals was to publish, to some extent, the papers which were submitted to the Society’s Ordinary Meetings, the series also records the ‘refereeing’ [peer-review] process. In most cases the original manuscripts were not kept, presumably as once they were published there was no need. See also Bernard Leake’s A brief history of Geological Society Publishing. 
  • Museum of the Geological Society, 1808-1911
    From its earliest days, the Geological Society collected specimens. Unlike rival collections at the British Museum and other learned bodies, the Society's Museum was intended to be comprehensive. However keeping and curating such a work intensive museum was always problematic and by 1911 the decision was reached to dispose of the remaining collection. The ‘British’ specimens were sent to the Geological Survey and Museum [now in the British Geological Survey] and the ‘Foreign’ specimens and the major catalogues were given to the Natural History Museum. See: Thackray, John. 'A short history of the Museum of the Geological Society of London, 1807-1911, with a catalogue of the British and Irish accessions, and notes on surviving collections.' Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), historical series, vol 19 (1991), pp51-160.
  • Portraits of Fellows
    The Society holds a large number of likenesses of its Fellows. The majority of the paintings and busts are on display in the Society’s apartments in Burlington House, but around 1500 drawings, prints and photographs are held in the Archive. Most of the portraits date from the 1850s-1930s, after this period the images are generally only of the Presidents of the Society.
  • Geological Society Club, 1824 to present
    The Geological Society had originally formed as a 'Geological Dinner Club' at the Freemason's Tavern, Great Queen Street, London, on the 13 November 1807. However whilst the Society flourished, attendance at the Dining Club rapidly declined and by around 1811 meetings of the Club had ceased. The present Club was revived in 1824. Traditionally, meetings were held on the evenings of every Ordinary Meeting of the Society, but are now monthly. Although further accessions has meant the catalogue references are out of date, a history of Club appears in: Gray, D A. A review of the archives of the Geological Society Club: from the founding in 1824 to the sesquicentennial in 1974. Geological Society Club, 1975
  • Institution of Geologists, 1973-1991
    In 1973 a Working Party on Professional Recognition was established to “study the feasibility of maintaining a professional register of geologists". As no existing organisation was deemed appropriate for all geologists to become members, the Working Party recommended that a professional body should be established – the Institution of Geologists (IG). At the beginning of 1991, the IG merged with the Society, its main legacy being the professional categories of membership which are now offered. For more information, see Rick Brassington’s The Institution of Geologists – a brief history.

Deposited Papers

Generally letters, diaries, field books, drawings, prints, reports and annotated/ manuscript maps which have been deposited with the Society. The series includes visual material which was used to illustrate papers read at Ordinary Meetings. Although the original manuscripts were not retained (apart from a small number of very early papers), the illustrations were kept – presumably because they were not included in the final journal publication.

Notable collections of papers by individuals include: