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The Society, in its history, has lent various of its collections to institutions on long term loans either because of specialist care needs of the items or because of a particular interest in the collections by the lending institution. The material in this series is the correspondence and documentation connected with these long term loans.

The Society has within its collections three Persian manuscripts: the Shahnamah of Muhammad Juki (RAS Persian 239), the Gulistan of Sa‘di (RAS Persian 258), and the Masnavi of Zafar Khan (RAS Persian 310). These are both fragile and of great value. Therefore since 1946 they have been housed at other institutions which are able to provide the necessary care for them, firstly with the British Museum, then the British Library, and currently at the Cambridge University Library.
The material in this subseries concerns the care of these manuscripts:

• Correspondence and documentation concerning the loan of the manuscripts to the British Museum. Typed and printed, 11 pieces, dated 15 April 1946 - 30 December 1965.
• Correspondence between the British Library and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the conservation of the Shahnamah of Muhammad Juki manuscript, Typed, 13 pieces, dated 18 June 1992 - 29 September 1993.
• Correspondence between the British Library and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the making of microfilm copies of the manuscripts. Typed, 5 pieces, dated 19 October 1993 - 4 November 1993.
• 'RAS Manuscript. Shahnama. Persian MS 239 Conservation Report and Estimate 31 May 1994' - conservation report. Typed, 9 pieces.
• Correspondence between the British Library and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the further care of the manuscripts, Typed, 2 pieces, 4 November 1994 -10 August 1999.
• Correspondence, indemnity certificates and valuations for the documents for 1999 and 2002. Typed, printed and handwritten, 14 pieces, dated 7 September 1999 - 12 December 2002.
• Correspondence, loan contracts, condition reports and indemnity certificates between the British Library and the Royal Asiatic Society. The duration of loan was originally from 5 July 2010 to 4 July 2013. Typed, 28 pieces, dated 3 February – 1 July 2010.
• Correspondence and documentation between the British Library and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the termination of the loan agreement and the discussion of returning the manuscripts. Typed, 10 pieces, dated 28 October 2010 - 7 February 2011.
• Loan documentation, indemnity certificate and valuations for the manuscripts for 2014. Typed and printed, 28 pieces.

In the Council meeting on 10 April 1957 it was agreed that the Society would transfer on 'permanent loan' to the Victoria and Albert Museum, some of the paintings from its collections, including 74 Indian miniatures and one packet of 14 small architectural sketches. Further resolution on 8 April 1965 ruled that a volume of Indian Miniatures presented to the Society by Mr Nadir Baxter in 1826 be offered on indefinite loan to the V&A. These were primarily Indian miniature paintings from the Collections of James Tod and Nadir Baxter. These have subsequently been returned to the Society. The material in this subseries contains correspondence and documentation concerning the loan.

• Early correspondence between the V&A and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the loan of the paintings to the V&A and subsequent tracing of them. Typed and photocopy, 10 pieces, dated 11 April 1957 - 16 November 1965.
• 'Victoria and Albert Museum: Objects Submitted on Approval for Loan' - list of all the items loaned in 1957. Photocopy of typed list with official form, 19 pieces, dated 16 May 1957.
• 'R.A.S. Indian Miniatures loaned to the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1957' - typed list with handwritten title, 18 pieces, undated.
• Valuation undertaken by Sotheby's of the items on loan. Printed and typed, 1 item, dated 23 June 1992.
• Schedule of Indemnity for the items on loan - incomplete form without valuations, annotated 'V&A list of RAS items on loan 1957 - 1998'. Typed and handwritten, 5 pieces, [1998].
• 'Loan of Indian Paintings by the Royal Asiatic Society to Victoria and Albert Museum' - typed list of the items with extensive handwritten annotations concerning the identification of the items, 22 pieces, dated 8 June 1998.

Since the 1960s the Society had deposited on indefinite loan some copper-plate grants and other inscriptions with the British Museum. The material in this subseries consist of correspondence and documentation concerning this loan.

• Correspondence between the British Museum and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the initial loan and the continuing care of the items. Typed and printed, 12 pieces, dated 29 November 1967 - 5 March 1973.
• Correspondence between the British Museum and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning indemnity insurance for the items on loan. Typed and handwritten, 4 pieces, dated 16 September 1993 - 25 October 1993.
• Correspondence and list between the British Museum and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning the ongoing loan and production of photographs, Typed, 4 pieces, dated 20 April 1998 - 7 September 1999.
• Correspondence between the British Museum and the Royal Asiatic Society concerning obtaining a full list of the items loaned. Computer printed, 1 piece, dated 30 March 2016.

Material associated with loans from the Society's collections between 2015-2019:

• Correspondence and Loan and Exhibition Agreement between the Royal Asiatic Society and the National Gallery Singapore concerning the loan of artworks (Head Cat. No. 01.014, 025.072, 025.074i and 090.014) for the exhibition 'Artist and Empire' scheduled to open in October 2016. This exhibition was the touring leg of Tate Britain's exhibition from November 2015 to April 2016. Typed, 12 pieces, dated 5 November 2015-20 May 2016.
• Letter from the Réunion des Musées Nationaux Grand Palais concerning the loan of the portrait of Madhu Rao Narayan (Head Cat. No. 01.014) for the exhibition 'Des grands Moghols aux Maharajahs' scheduled to open in March 2017. Typed, 1 piece, dated 10 November 2016.

The papers consist of correspondence mainly concerned with Pankhurst's interest and research into Ethiopia, a small amount of printed material, photographs, and Abstracts and Papers from the First International Conference on the History of Ethiopian Art which was convened by Pankhurst in 1986.

Correspondence mainly addressed to Richard Pankhurst concerned with his interest and research in Ethiopia.

Letter from Richard J. Haas, International Law Consultant, to Trevor Aldridge, Bower, Cotton and Bower Solicitors, regarding the death of Alexander Eldon. Haas reports that he had a long talk with Rita Pankhurst (née Eldon) who was in agreement with him. On the reverse of this letter are handwritten lists of novels, including authors, title and date published. Authors include Denys Jones, Victor Canning and James A. Brown.

Correspondence concerning the location of archives connected to James Bruce, Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. These are:

• Letter from S.R. Tomlinson, Assistant Librarian, Department of Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, Oxford, to Richard Pankhurst to give details of some letters from James Bruce in their collections. One piece, dated 26 February 1981.
• Letter from J.G. Parker, Research Assistant, The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, to Richard Pankhurst concerning the letters and papers of James Bruce in their collection. One piece, dated 25 February 1981.
• Letter from the Hon. Jane Roberts, Royal Library, Windsor Castle, to Richard Pankhurst concerning the drawings by James Bruce in the Library's collections. She includes copies of the frontispiece of the catalogue, 'English Drawings Stuart and Georgian periods in the Collection of His Majesty to King at Windsor Castle' by A.P. Oppé and the relevant page concerning the Bruce material. Three pieces, dated 12 March 1981.

Letter from D.A. Bell, Representative, The British Council in Addis Ababa, to Richard Pankhurst to send Pankhurst recent statistics on the use of the British Council Library in Addis Ababa.