Royal Asiatic Society O.W. Samson Award

The O.W. Samson Award was set up in memory of Dr Otto William Samson, ethnographer and curator of the Horniman Museum. His wife, Elizabeth Samson, donated £10,000 to the Royal Asiatic Society with the wish that the annual income from the invested money be used to either enable a scholar to pursue their research in the fields of anthropology or archaeology relating to Asia; or to enable the Society to mount a study group or seminar on some aspect of these fields. In its initial years the award helped to fund a publication following the Islamic Fundamentalist Conference and 'The legacy of the House of Timur' Seminar. In 1992 it was awarded to Richard Rudgley, St Cross College, Oxford, to visit the rural areas of Xinjiang to document surviving traditional technology, and in 1993 to Lilla Russell-Smith to research Chinese Buddhist painting at Dunhuang.
The material related to this award includes initial correspondence, administrative documents, advertising leaflet, and later correspondence including the news of Elizabeth Samson's death.

Otto William Samson was born in Germany in 1900. After studying at the Universities of Freiburg, Berlin, Munich and Hamburg, he took up a position at the Hamburg Museum of Ethnology in 1928. He joined an ethnographical expedition in China but on returning to Germany in the early 1930s, found that, due to his Jewish ethnicity, his position at the Museum gradually became untenable. He moved to England in late 1933 after being dismissed from his post. Charles Gabriel Seligman found him work at University College's Galton Laboratory. He was awarded a travel grant from the Tweedie Exploration Fund administered by the University of Edinburgh's Faculty of Arts, which allowed him to undertake extensive research in India and Myanmar for two years. On his return he continued working at the Galton Laboratory but also volunteered in the Oriental Antiquities and Ethnography Department at the British Museum, a position which gradually became paid and full time through the Second World War. After the War he took up the position of Curator at the Horniman Museum, moving with his wife to live near the Museum. He modernised the museum and created important collections of musical instruments and masks. He was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society for more than thirty years and served on the Council in the 1960s. He died in 1976.

Elizabeth Samson, wife of Otto, played an important part in the social network of academics and scholars to which they belonged. She hosted dinner parties and buffet suppers at their flat. She instigated the O.W. Samson Award in 1986-87. She died in 1994 after being knocked down, crossing the road.

The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'. It continues as a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas.

The material was divided into 3 series:
* RAS OWS/1: Initial Correspondence
* RAS OWS/2: Administration of the Award
* RAS OWS/3: Elizabeth Samson's Death

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These are part of the institutional records of the Royal Asiatic Society which have been accumulated throughout its history.

Otto William Samson was born in Germany in 1900. After studying at the Universities of Freiburg, Berlin, Munich and Hamburg, he took up a position at the Hamburg Museum of Ethnology in 1928. He joined an ethnographical expedition in China but on returning to Germany in the early 1930s, found that, due to his Jewish ethnicity, his position at the Museum gradually became untenable. He moved to England in late 1933 after being dismissed from his post. Charles Gabriel Seligman found him work at University College's Galton Laboratory. He was awarded a travel grant from the Tweedie Exploration Fund administered by the University of Edinburgh's Faculty of Arts, which allowed him to undertake extensive research in India and Myanmar for two years. On his return he continued working at the Galton Laboratory but also volunteered in the Oriental Antiquities and Ethnography Department at the British Museum, a position which gradually became paid and full time through the Second World War. After the War he took up the position of Curator at the Horniman Museum, moving with his wife to live near the Museum. He modernised the museum and created important collections of musical instruments and masks. He was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society for more than thirty years and served on the Council in the 1960s. He died in 1976.

Elizabeth Samson, wife of Otto, played an important part in the social network of academics and scholars to which they belonged. She hosted dinner parties and buffet suppers at their flat. She instigated the O.W. Samson Award in 1986-87. She died in 1994 after being knocked down, crossing the road.

The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'. It continues as a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas.

The material was catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2023.

Digital photography (without flash) for research purposes may be permitted upon completion of a copyright declaration form, and with respect to current UK copyright law.

These records are part of the Royal Asiatic Society's Institutional Records and therefore part of the historical records of the Society.

Information about the O.W. Samson Award can be found in various reports of the Anniversary General Meetings: The Donation is recorded in AGM report, JRAS 1987, pp. 422-3. The Otto Samson Fund financed "another successful seminar, The legacy of the House of Timur. This year, as advertised, the proceeds of the Fund will be devoted to a travelling scholarship" (JRAS 1992, p.514) .
An obituary for O.W. Samson can be found in JRAS, 1976, pp. 93-4, and a biography of his life, 'Oriental art and the popular fancy: Otto Samson, ethnographer, collector and museum director' by D.A. Swallow in JRAS, 1987, pp. 5-31.

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