ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY

We were recently both honoured to be elected as Fellows of the Royal Historical Society. This prestigious learned society was founded in 1868, and is currently based at University College London. The society’s website is here.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON

We are also Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London, which was founded much earlier, in 1707, and is today based at Burlington House in London (next door to the Royal Academy). The Society also owns and manages Kelmscott Manor, the Cotswold retreat of William Morris, which is open to the public from April to October. The Society produces an invaluable fortnightly digest of news from the heritage sector, called Salon, and anyone is welcome to subscribe (see the website here). The ‘of London’ avoids confusion, because there is also a Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, founded in 1780 – see more information here.

CHARTERED INSTITUTE FOR ARCHAEOLOGISTS

We are also Members of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists. A Royal Charter was granted in December 2014 – before then, it was the Institute for Archaeologists. This organisation began in 1982 as the Institute of Field Archaeologists, but its name was changed in order to attract archaeologists working in universities, as well as those specialising in disciplines such as finds or illustration, whose natural home might not be a muddy trench or field. The website is here.

POST-NOMINAL ETIQUETTE

Post-nominal letters are the various shorthand letters referring to attainments such as educational qualifications, honours and fellowship or membership of learned societies and professional institutions. There are all sorts of rules governing the order in which post-nominal letters appear after someone’s name (from the Latin post, after, and nomen, name). For the three above, the order is: FSA, FRHistS, MCIfA – the date order of the establishment of each of these organisations.