The O.W. Samson Award was set up in memory of Dr Otto William Samson, ethnographer and curator of the Horniman Museum. His wife, Elizabeth Samson, donated £10,000 to the Royal Asiatic Society with the wish that the annual income from the invested money be used to either enable a scholar to pursue their research in the fields of anthropology or archaeology relating to Asia; or to enable the Society to mount a study group or seminar on some aspect of these fields. In its initial years the award helped to fund a publication following the Islamic Fundamentalist Conference and 'The legacy of the House of Timur' Seminar. In 1992 it was awarded to Richard Rudgley, St Cross College, Oxford, to visit the rural areas of Xinjiang to document surviving traditional technology, and in 1993 to Lilla Russell-Smith to research Chinese Buddhist painting at Dunhuang.

The material related to this award includes initial correspondence, administrative documents, advertising leaflet, and later correspondence including the news of Elizabeth Samson's death.

Correspondence concerning the setting up of the O.W. Sansom Award. These are:

• Letter from Elizabeth Samson (Mrs M.E. Samson) to Sir Cyril Philips, President, Royal Asiatic Society, to ask to arrange a meeting to discuss the possibility of setting up a Fellowship in memory of her husband. Typed, 1 piece, dated 1 September 1986.
• 'To Consider: Proposal for an annual award in honour of Dr O.W. Samson', a statement setting out the details of the award. Typed, 1 piece, undated.
• Note from Elizabeth Samson to Sir Cyril Philips to thank for his letter and enclosure but to ask for a correction to be made on the spelling of the name. Handwritten, 1 piece, dated 20 December 1986.
• Letter from Cyril Philips to Anne Southwark, to enclose Elizabeth's Samson's note. Handwritten, 1 piece, dated 9 January 1987.
• Note from Elizabeth Samson to Anne Southwark to enclose the cheque for the donation. Handwritten, 1 piece, dated 17 February 1987. The note is annotated to state the cheque was received on 23 February and acknowledged on 24 February 1987.

Documents and correspondence concerned with the administration of the Award:

• Letter from Elizabeth Samson to Professor A.D.H. Bivar, President, Royal Asiatic Society, expressing her concerns that the Award should primarily be for student travel. She has only been informed of one use of the Award for a publication, Islamic Fundamentalism, following a seminar. She asks for a meeting to be arranged to discuss the matter. Handwritten, one piece, dated 22 July 1991.
• List of correspondence concerning the award, mentions of its use, and current details of the account. Handwritten, 1 piece, undated [1991].
• Letter from A.D.H. Bivar to John Payne, Hon. Treasurer, Royal Asiatic Society, to inform concerning the letter sent from Elizabeth Samson, and proposing visiting her in September to discuss her concerns. Typed, 1 piece, dated 30 July 1991.
• Copy of a letter from John Payne to Ralph Pinder-Wilson to inform of Elizabeth Samson's letter and the impending visit on which he will accompany Professor Bivar. Typed, 1 piece, dated 1 August 1991.
• 'File Note: Dr. O.W. Samson Fund' - Note on the forthcoming visit to Mrs Samson and the references to the fund in the Council Minutes. Typed, 1 piece, dated 1 August 1991.
• 'Dr. O.W. Samson Fund' - report, written by John Payne, on the visit of the President and the Honorary Treasurer to Elizabeth Samson and the proposals for the administration of a Travelling Award, Typed, 3 pieces, dated 16 September 1991.
• Letter from Elizabeth Samson to Lydia Collins, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to thank for her letter and to ask her to thank Professor Bivar and John Payne for their understanding. Handwritten, 1 piece, dated 15 December 1991.
• Note from Sharon Eicher to the Royal Asiatic Society to ask if she is eligible to apply for the award. Handwritten, 1 piece, dated 1 April 1992.
• Letter from Clio Whittaker, SOAS Journals, to Lydia Collins, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to enclose a copy of the Bulletin in which the Society had placed an advertisement for the O.W. Samson Travelling Award and to send the invoice. Two pieces, typed and handwritten, dated 3 November 1992.
• 'The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, O.W. Samson Travelling Award (1993)' - notice of the award and to invite applications. Printed, 2 copies.
• List of institutions to which adverts had been sent. Typed, 1 piece, dated August 1993.

Correspondence regarding the death of Elizabeth Samson:

• Letter from Lydia Collins, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to Dr D.W. MacDowall, President, Royal Asiatic Society, to inform of a phone call she had received relating the circumstances of Elizabeth Samson's death. Handwritten, 1 piece, dated 12 September 1994.
• Letter from Dr D.W. MacDowall, to Mr and Mrs Richard Lake, sister and brother-in-law of Elizabeth Samson, to send the condolences of the Society on the death of Elizabeth Samson. Typed, 1 piece, dated 15 September 1994.

Since its inception the Royal Asiatic Society has encouraged the dissemination of Asian studies through the delivering of papers and lectures. These, particularly throughout the early history, were part of the General Meetings and recorded in the Minutes of the General Meetings (RAS LEC1). The material in this catalogue concerns the administration and publicity of papers, lectures and book launches given for the Society.

Drafts of papers delivered at General Meetings of the Society. These are:

• 'Translation of a Chinese Inscription found on a Rock at Kulangsu (Gulangyu)' by George Tradescant Lay, read at the General Meeting, 15 November 1845, 14 pages + paper wrapper.
• Paper on the cultivation of cotton and sugar by William McClelland, read 7 November 1846, with accompanying letter from W. Corgill, dated 18 May 1846, 17 pages.
• Notes on the progress of the native printing press in India, with reference to a list of periodicals and other works printed at the presses of Delhi and Bareilly with the list and translation by John Dowson. Read By H.H. Wilson, 2 December 1848, 23 pages.
• Notes on the Ruins at Gwalior by Lieutenant Thomas Briggs, read 20 November 1852 when Briggs showed a volume of drawings of the architecture of the temples visited by him at Gwalior and Badami, 8 pages + paper wrapper.
• Paper relating to the use by the Chinese government of the Chinese word for barbarian, read by Edwin Norris from documents communicated by the Foreign Office, 4 December 1852, 13 pieces + paper wrapper.
• Notes on the low caste Mangs of Kolhapoor (Kolhapur); an extract of a report by Lieutenant C. Barr, dated 1 January 1852. This was communicated by Colonel Sykes and read 4th June 1853, printed 10 pages.
• Extracts from letters received from Colonel Henry Rawlinson concerning the kings cited in an inscription. Two pieces, undated but probably dating to 1852-4 when the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society read several such extracts at the General Meetings.
• Description of the Drawings of Buddha and a Pagoda, presented to the Society by the First King of Siam (Thailand) on 23 July 1857. The original description is dated 26 May 1854. The paper was read by the President, H.H. Wilson, at the meeting of 2 January 1858, 8 pages.
• Paper entitled 'A Sketch of Buddhist mythology as represented in Chinese sheet-tract' read by Joseph Edkins, 22 January 1859, 7 pages.
• Papers relating to the inscriptions on two swords given to the Queen by the widow of Major Hodson, but displayed at the Royal Asiatic Society on 6 April 1861, 5 pieces.

Correspondence concerning General Meetings. These are:

• Photocopy of a letter from Edwin Norris, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to Phillipp Franz von Siebold to invite him to be present at the Meeting of the Society on 15 June 1850, handwritten, 2 pieces, dated 14 June 1850. The original of this letter is held at the Brandenstein Archive, Schlüchtern-Elm, Germany. Accompanying the letter are computer-printed transcripts in English and French of a letter from Phillipp Franz von Siebold to the Admiralty in London, dated 17 June 1850.
• Letter from James Whatman Bosanquet to Edwin Norris concerning whether Mr Dunbar should come from the Isle of Wight to deliver his paper, 2 sides, dated 30 March 1858.

Printed cards detailing the dates of the meeting for 1865 and 1868-9.

Printed cards listing the dates of Meetings at the Royal Asiatic Society with the names of the speakers and titles of their lectures. These are for 1965 (March -June), 1965-1966, 1966-1967, 1967-1968, 1968-1969, and 1969-1970. The last of these for 1969-70 also details the Council for that year and details about the Library.

There are also handwritten and typed draft lists for lectures for 1961-1963.

Printed admittance tickets for lectures held at the Society. Some of these have been annotated with the numbers of people attending the lecture:

1963

• 14 November: Sir Richard Winstedt, 'Thirty-two Years in Malaya'.
• 12 December: Margaret Medley, 'Ceramic Design and Industry in the Ming Period'.

1964

• 12 March: H.L. Shorto, 'The Thirty-seven Nats'.
• 11 June: Dr F.R. Allchin, 'The Indo-Greeks and their Successors in Gandhara (Further Excavations at Charsada, 1963)'. This card has had the date crossed out, 8 October inserted, and that crossed out too.
• 8 October: E.H.S. Simmonds, 'Literature and Society in Thailand'.
• 12 November: Dr D.L. Snellgrove, 'The Decline of Tibetan Civilization'. 10 December: J. Burton-Page, 'The Building Art of Bijapur'.

1965

• 14 January: H.E. Richardson, 'Early Tibetan Civilization'.
• 11 February: Dr. Cheng Te-Kun, 'Archaeology in the People's Republic of China'.
• 11 March: Dr Carmen Blacker, 'Mountain Cults in Japanese Buddhism'.
• 8 April: Professor E.G. Pulleybank, 'Chinese and Indo-Europeans'.
• 10 June: Dr J. Elfenbein, 'In Baluchistan'.
  *14 October: B.W. Robinson, 'Some Persian Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Library'.
• 11 November: Dr F.R. Allchin, 'The Place of Tulsī Dās in North Indian Devotional Tradition'.
• 9 December: Professor Owen Lattimore, 'Some Recent Publications of Mongol Historians'.

1966

• 13 January: Professor Gordon H. Luce, 'The career of Htilaing Min (Kyanzittha), the Uniter of Burma fl. 1084-1113 A.D.' This lecture took place after the presentation of the Society's Triennial Gold Medal to Professor Luce.
• 10 February: Ralph Russell, 'Ghālib (1797-1869), Self-Portrait of a Delhi Nobel and Poet'.
• 10 March: Miss K.M. Kenyon, 'Excavations in Jerusalem'.
• 14 April: Dr I.M.P. Raeside, 'The Mahānubhāva Sect'.
• 19 June: Dr. C.R. Bawden, 'The Anti-Manchu Rebellion of 1756-7'.
• 12 October: Dr. A.D.H. Bivar, 'Mesopotamian Elements in Roman Mithraism'.
• 17 November: Professor Yigael Yadin, 'Masada of Herod and the Zealots'.
• 8 December: Dr J. de Casparos, 'The Unity of the Realm'.

1967

• 12 January: Professor D.C. Twitchett, 'Evidence from Tun-Huang on the T'ang Governing Class'. The lecture was preceded by the presentation of the Burton Memorial Medal to Wilfred Thesiger.
• 9 February: Mrs Mildred Archer, 'Birds and Flowers in Indian Painting'.
• 9 March: Dr G. Fehérvári, 'Ayyūbbid Metalwork in Syria'.
• 13 April: Dr C.E. Bosworth, 'The Coming of Islam to Afghanistan'.
• 12 October: Professor D.M. Lang, 'Old and New in Georgia and Armenia'.
• 9 November: Dr Romila Thapar, 'The Tradition of Historical Writing in Early India'.
• 14 December: Dr C.A. Macartney, ' The Maygars Eastern Auxiliaries'.

1968

• 11 January: Professor O.R. Gurney, 'The Hittite Shrine of Yazilikaya'.
• 8 February: Dr T.M. Johnston, 'The Middle East Command expedition to Socotra, 1967'.
• 14 March: E.H.S. Simmonds, 'The Nature and Function of Court Entertainment in Old Siam'.
• 4 April: Professor W. Watson, 'The King of Tien (Yunnan, 1st Century BC)'.
• 13 June: The Hon. Sir Steven Runciman, 'The Fate of the Byzantine Churches in Ottoman Istanbul'.
• 10 October: Dr C.J. Dunn, 'Aspects of the Japanese Puppet Drama'.
• 14 November: C.H.B. Reynolds, 'The Maldive Islands'.
• 12 December: G.R. Tibbetts, 'The Origins of Arab Monsoon Navigation'.

1969

• 9 January: Professor E. Ullendorf, 'A Jewish Tribe in Ethiopia?'.
• 13 February: Professor J. Segal, 'Christianity in Mesopotamia during the First Two Centuries of the Common Era'.
• 13 March: Miss B.E. Ward, 'The Boat People of Hong Kong'.
• 10 April: Susan Skilliter, 'English Pirates in Turkey in 1581'.
• 12 June: Peter Parr, 'An Archaeological Reconnaissance in North-West Arabia'.
• 19 June: John Burton-Page, 'Iranian, Central Asian and Indigenous Currents in the Arts of the Mughal Courts: A Cultural Synthesis'. This event took place in Manchester.
• 9 October: Brigadier S.H. Longrigg, 'Arabia: The Last Fifty Years'.
• 13 November: Professor R.C. Zaehner, 'Yudhishthira: A Crisis of Conscience'. This was a lecture to mark Gandhi Centenary Commemoration.
• 11 December: Dr. M.A.N. Loewe, 'Witchcraft and Han Dynastic History 91-74 B.C.'.