Important components of the RASE library are the archive and collection of artefacts.

The archive is built around two major sources of information: the early records that are lodged in the Museum of English Rural Life at Reading University and more recent papers that are kept within the library at Stoneleigh Park.

In the main, they are comprised of Council and Committee minutes, Royal Charters, financial records, contracts and agreements, details of membership, long service and other awards, miscellaneous papers relating to the administration of the Society and the Royal Show, and a large collection of photographs.

The papers of the old Board of Agriculture, established in 1793 and dissolved in 1822, are an important part of the collection as are papers of the late Sir George Stapledon.

The Society has recently been honoured with the custodianship of a large collection of papers relating to the 2001 outbreak of Foot & Mouth Disease; assembled by Rev. Patricia Pinkerton, they are currently being indexed and are now available online here and will be updated on a regular basis as the database builds. This will become one of the principal sources of information about the event. This will provide you with access to the database and you can use the the search facility provided.

The artefacts include paintings and prints that record not just the history of the Society but also the development of agriculture.

Portraits include Robert Bakewell (one of the early breeders of livestock) - we also have his chair - Jethro Tull (he invented the seed drill) and Thomas William Coke (Coke of Norfolk developed the Norfolk four course rotation). Richard Ansdell’s great painting ‘The Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of England – Bristol 1842’, on permanent loan fro Salford Museum and Art Gallery, together with some 40 of the artist’s sketches in oils of those represented in the picture form another important part of the collection. Famous examples of livestock are also featured as are prints of former Royal Shows together with a large selection of Royal Show memorabilia.

The Society is always pleased to accept items that may be added to the collections. The archive and artefacts may be viewed by arrangement.