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The Monumental Brass Society
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The Society was founded in 1887 by a group of Cambridge undergraduates keen to preserve and record monumental brasses. Initially it was known as the Cambridge University Association of Brass Collectors. Later it was renamed the Monumental Brass Society. From a membership of 60 in 1887, the Society has grown to around 500 today.
Early research into brasses focussed chiefly on English brasses of the medieval and early modern periods. Today, however, the field is much wider. Chronologically it extends to brasses of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and geographically to those of Continental Europe and beyond. Incised slabs are also the subject of growing interest. Areas of current research include the artistic context of brasses, workshop organisation and the self-image of the commemorated.
Membership will particularly benefit those with an interest in genealogy, ecclesiology and the study of costume, armour and heraldry, as well as those interested in church monuments.
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Rev.
Herbert Walter Macklin (1866-1917) without whose enthusiasm and energy the MBS might never have been started. |
More about the history of the MBS can be found in:
Richard Busby, The Monumental Brass Society: a Short History 1887-1987 (Monumental Brass Society, 1987).
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 | Transactions, published annually with articles on brasses and incised slabs, with an average of 100 pages in each issue. |
| Bulletin, published three times a year, with information about current activities, work in progress and new literature, with 20 fully-illustrated A4 pages in each issue. |
| Other occasional publications. For most there is a charge, but to celebrate the millennium a copiously illustrated volume
Drawings of Monumental Brasses and Incised Slabs by the Waller Brothers, edited by Robert Hutchinson F.S.A., will be provided free of charge to all current members and new members while stocks last. |
| General meetings with illustrated lectures followed by discussions and an opportunity to meet other members, held 3 times a year, in London on Saturday afternoons. |
| Annual one-day excursion by coach to churches of interest with brasses. Excursions
take place in different parts of the country and start and finish at a railway station. About 6 churches are visited. |
| Periodic weekend Conferences, usually in September, held in different parts of the country. These are normally residential and the cost includes lectures, visits to churches of interest, workshops and members' contributions. |
| Biennial study days, each on a specific church of outstanding interest, with lectures on the church and its monuments and an extended visit to the church, sometimes followed by a visit to a stately house. |
| Annual General Meeting held in London in October, with a short lecture after the
formal business. |
| Society's bookstall, with new and second-hand books on brasses, incised slabs and related ecclesiology on sale, normally present at Lecture Meetings, Study Days and the AGM. |
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In a major initiative in 1995 the Society entered into an agreement with the University of Birmingham for the establishment of a research centre for
the Society. By the terms of the agreement, the Society is committed to placing its collections of rubbings on deposit in the University Library as the nucleus of a major research collection for the study of brasses and
incised slabs. The process of depositing and cataloguing the rubbings is well
advanced and it is planned to put the catalogue on-line. It is anticipated that in due course the Society's archives and collection of books and periodicals will also be handed over. The
Society and the University together are committed to developing the collections as
a major research resource.
Every member of the Society is entitled to make use of the collections. Anyone who wishes to gain access should contact the Birmingham University Library Admissions Office to arrange for a reader's ticket (switchboard number 0121 414 3344).
An article on the centre is in The Heslopian No. 1 (University of
Birmingham Information Services, 2003), 14-16.
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The Society provides advice and assistance to churches on the care and preservation of their brasses and incised slabs. Grants are available to assist funding of conservation of brasses.
The Society is actively involved in publishing a county survey of brasses and indents in the British Isles. Volumes are fully illustrated and are providing an important aid to the study of monumental brasses and family history.
The Society continues to influence brass-rubbing activities by advising clergy and Parochial Church Councils. The rubbing of certain original brasses is discouraged and the use of
facsimiles recommended instead.
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Patron:
President:
Rev. Canon. D.G. Meara, M.A.,
F.S.A.
Vice Presidents:
- C. Blair, O.B.E., M.A., F.S.A.
- Mrs. N.R. Edwards, M.A., F.S.A.
- Rev. J.F.A. Bertram, M.A., F.S.A.
- P.D. Cockerham, M.A., Vet. M.B., F.S.A., M.R.C.V.S.
- Prof. N.E. Saul, M.A., D.Phil., F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S.
- H.M. Stuchfield, F.S.A.
- Hon. Secretary:
D J Fry, B.Ed., Cert. Ed.
- Hon. Treasurer:
- M.A. Paige-Hagg, B.Tech., M.Sc.
- Hon Editor:
- N.J. Rogers, M.A., M.Litt. F.S.A.
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With effect from 1 January 2005, subscription rates are:
| Individual UK membership |
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£25 |
| Overseas membership |
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£25 or U.S. $45 |
| Second person at same address, receiving no literature |
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10 |
| People under 18 or in full-time education |
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12.50 |
| Institutional membership |
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£25 |
Subscriptions are due on 1st January each year. Cheques should be made payable to
The
'Monumental Brass Society' and sent to the Hon. Treasurer.
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Mr M. Paige-Hagg
37 Saxon Way
Old Windsor
Berkshire SL4 2PU
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UK members may pay by cheque or bankers order, though the latter is preferred.
Members may choose to pay the £25 subscription in two instalments of £12.50.
Those who require an invoice or have any other query should contact the Hon.
Secretary (details above).
If you are a taxpayer and would like to permit the Society to claim back tax, it would help if you signed a Gift Aid form, a copy of which should be kept for your tax records. To
obtain a copy of the Gift Aid form please contact the
Hon. Treasurer. Click
here for a web copy of the Gift Aid Form.
USA members preferring to pay in U.S. dollars should send a check for U.S.
$45 to:
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Shirley B. Mattox
1313 Jackson Street
Oshkosh, WI 54901
USA
(920)233-2833
The Bulletin may be airmailed for U.S. $5 extra, payable with your subscription.
Other overseas members should send sterling drafts payable in London, to the Hon. Treasurer
(address above). The Bulletin may be airmailed for £3 extra, payable with your subscription.
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Please complete the application form and send it with your subscription to:
- Hon Membership Secretary
Monumental Brass Society
Barlows Cottage, 2 Barlows Lane
Wilbarston, Market Harborough
Leicestershire
LE16 8QB
For an application form, click here
Why not give a subscription to the MBS as a gift? Recipients will receive
straight away a letter of welcome with a notification of the gift and who it is
from, together with a copy of the latest issue of MBS Transactions
(currently the special double issue on the brasses of the British Museum), the
MBS Occasional Publication No 2: Robert Hutchinson,
Drawings of Monumental Brasses and Incised Slabs by
the Waller Brothers
1837-44, worth £12.50 and any other publications already issued for the year
of the subscription. Further publications for the year will be sent as and when
they become available.
For a gift subscription form, click
here.
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The Society has been granted registration as a charity by the Charity (no. 214336). The Inland Revenue has accepted the Society as a charity within the definitions of section 506(1) Income & Corporation Taxes Act 1988, as a result of which the Society's income and gains are not taxable to the extent that they are applicable and applied to charitable purposes.
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- c/o The Society of Antiquaries
Burlington House
Piccadilly
London W1V 0HS.
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