This archive contains the records of the Anglo-Austrian Society and Anglo-Austrian Music Society and their subsidiary bodies, the Anglo-Austrian Concert Agency Limited, Austrian Travel Ltd and Anglo-Austrian Tour Agency Ltd. The records include committee minutes, memoranda, correspondence, financial records, photographic material, newsletters and one-off publications by the AAS and AAMS, and other forms of publicity material such as leaflets and flyers.
Although the Anglo-Austrian Society and the Anglo-Austrian Music Society started out as separate bodies (and indeed, remained so until at least the point at which the archive was catalogued in 2019), for much of their history they were run from the same administrative office and by the same staff, and the records of their activities were, to some extent, merged into the same filing system. Some record series therefore consist of records relating to both societies, while others relate to one or the other of the societies alone.
The record series comprising records of both (and in some cases also the subsidiary) Anglo-Austrian bodies are: AAS/1, which contains records relating to the constitution and structure of the Anglo-Austrian group of organisations, including Memoranda and Articles of Association and related correspondence, particularly in relation to the incorporation of the AAS in 1958; AAS/4, containing annual reports and activities reports of the Anglo-Austrian and Anglo-Austrian Music Societies, some written by the Secretariat for the AAS Executive Committee, some by the Executive Committee for the AGM or the wider public; AAS/5, which contains both societies’ accounts and other financial records; AAS/6, containing copies of annual returns for the Register of Directors; AAS/15, which contains publicity material for the full range of activities carried out by the AAS and AAMS, from lectures to concerts to language courses; and finally, AAS/17, which contains direct mail communications such as newsletters.
The series relating to the internal mechanisms of solely the Anglo-Austrian Society and its sub-committees are: AAS/2 (minutes) and AAS/3 (correspondence), and the record series relating to activities primarily carried out by the Anglo-Austrian Society are: AAS/11 (Austrian Children Reception Committee and Children's Holiday Committee records); AAS/13 (the Spanish Riding School); AAS/14 (Special events and trips). Records of subventions by the Austrian government are in AAS/16 and records of property are in AAS/18. These are mentioned here because the AAS was the dominant organisation (the legal recipient of the subsidies and owner of the property), although it should be noted that AAMS made a substantial contribution to all costs.
The minutes and reports, correspondence and accounts of the Anglo-Austrian Music Society is AAS/7. There are unfortunately very few items of correspondence dating from approximately the first 20 years of the AAMS's existence, and the main source of information about the early history of the AAMS is the Executive Committee minutes in AAS/7/2. The records of concerts and tours organised by the AAMS (in some cases jointly organised with the AAS) are in AAS/12, with sub-series AAS/12/16 containing correspondence, contracts and publicity material relating to the tours by the Vienna Boys’ Choir from 1950.