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Record

RefNoCMC
LevelFonds
Title'Council Minutes Copy': transcribed minutes of meetings of the Royal Society Council
CreatorThe Royal Society
Date1663-1822
DescriptionManuscript copies of minutes of the meetings of the Royal Society Council from 1663-1882. Council is concerned with the business and administration of the Royal Society. Minutes record discussions of all matters relating to the Society's constitution, activities, awards, funds, bequests, buildings, staff and other administrative matters.

The Council minutes exist in three main forms. The original council minutes (CMO, 1663-present) of which the Council Minutes Copy are transcripts (1663-1882). From 1832 the minutes were printed for distribution to Council members, and bound sets retained by the Society, these form the series 'Council Minutes Printed' (CMP, 1832-1997)
LanguageEnglish
Extent8 volumes
PhysicalDescriptionLeather bound volumes
ArrangementChronological by date of meeting
FindingAidsThe Council minutes for 1660-1687 were published in Thomas Birch's 'History of the Royal Society' (4 vols, London, 1756). An index to the proper names in Birch by Gail Ewald Scala was published in 'Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London' Volume 28, No. 2 (1974). This is supplemented by a card index to Volume 2 by Jennifer Relvyn Bray
AccessStatusOpen
CopyrightThe Royal Society
AdminHistoryThese copies of Council minutes were created retrospectively at the end of the eighteenth century at the same time as the Journal Books Copy and then continued regularly to the early nineteenth century for security reasons
RelatedMaterialThe Council minutes exist in three main forms. The original council minutes (CMO, 1663-present) of which the Council Minutes Copy are transcripts (1663-1882). From 1832 the minutes were printed for distribution to Council members, and sets were retained by the Society. These form the series 'Council Minutes Printed' (CMP, 1832-1997)

There are also various series of rough minutes with some fair copies in the Manuscripts General series (MS/629-47, 19 volumes, 1665-1870 and MS/800, 5 boxes, 1885-1896).

The manuscripts general series also contains some indexes to the minutes:
MS/407 'Alphabetical index to the printed minutes' by P.M. Roget is a guide to most of the first volume of printed minutes, 1832-1844.
MS/801 is a subject index for the subjects under discussion in volumes 1-4 of the printed minutes, 1832-1877.

Select minutes have been published:
The Council Minutes Original for the period 1660-1687 are printed with the Journal Book Original in 'History of the Royal Society' (4 vols, London, 1756-1757) by Thomas Birch . An index to the proper names in Birch by Gail Ewald Scala was published in 'Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London' Volume 28, No. 2 (1974).
The minutes 1663-1800 are published on microfilm by University publications of America.

Council meeting agenda and associated papers submitted to Council form the series 'Council Agenda and Papers' (CAP, 1945-present). Some earlier documents submitted to council are preserved in the series 'Council Documents' (CD, 1900-1930). There are also printed copies of Council agenda for the years 1950-1975 pasted into bound volumes and annotated. These form the series 'Council Agenda' (CA, 1950-1975).
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