Closing date for next application round:
Monday 10 January 2022
Please note: The Society’s online application system for memberships is offline for redevelopment work in the week commencing Monday 29 November. The service will be available from Monday 6 December.
Applicants who have started but not yet completed an application may do so from Monday 6 December. For any enquiries before 6 December, please email: administration@royalhistsoc.org and mark your email: ‘Applications’.
Membership of the RHS is open to all those who have an interest in the rich and varied world of the past. You may be involved in teaching, libraries, archives, museums, heritage, or the media in either a professional or volunteer capacity. You may be actively engaged in local or family history, or simply want to join our worldwide community of historians. Membership is open to all.
If you are a published historian, our Fellowship category may be more appropriate for you. Many Members are later elected to the Fellowship.
Benefits of RHS Membership
- Copies of the RHS academic journal, Transactions.
- All other RHS publications offered at a substantial discount: includes the Bibliography of British and Irish History, Camden Series volumes and New Historical Perspectives print volumes.
- Receipt of the weekly ‘RHS News Circular’: regular update on RHS activities, plus listings of events / calls for papers from other UK historical societies and research networks: example from July 2021.
- Copies of RHS newsletters and the Society’s annual reports
- Eligible to participate in all RHS public meetings.
- Priority access to the RHS Archive and Library collections, and RHS Library rooms at University College London (UCL).
- Eligible to join UCL Libraries as a library member.
- Become part of a thriving international community of historians, of all kinds and from many backgrounds.
- Help us support and advocate for the study and practice of history in its many forms. Society income also supports our grants programme for historians at the start of their careers
- Read more on the Society’s 6 priority areas: Policy & Advocacy, Events & Training, Innovative Publishing, Grants & Support, Awards & Recognition, and Library & Archive.
Annual subscription
Annual subscription for Members is £40, payable on election; the RHS subscription year runs July to June with renewals due on 1 July of each year.
How to Apply
To apply for election to the Membership you will need to read the Notes for Applicants.
Once you have read the notes please complete this online Application Form.
Applications to join the RHS are welcome through the year. Closing dates for applications and supporting references in 2022 are: Mondays 10 January, 4 April, 6 June, 22 August and 31 October.
All applications are considered by our Membership Committee who meet five times a year. You can expect to hear the outcome approximately eight weeks after the closing date for your application. Incomplete applications will be held on file until we have received all the necessary information.
All enquiries about applying for election to the Membership should be addressed to the RHS office: membership@royalhistsoc.org