https://www.mary-jannetleith.com/news daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://www.mary-jannetleith.com/news/i4y85tewqngod8c4vvvdtv4z9s92e4 monthly 0.5 2026-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66e1b8412ba644705e60792d/f30568f5-2f69-4fcb-9d07-40dd81dc5057/20251105_095407.jpg News - At the Royal Society of Arts - The Royal Society of Arts, London Recently, I was lucky enough to visit the archive of the Royal Society of Arts, which still flourishes in its eighteenth-century premises just off the Strand! Originally the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, the RSA was established in 1754 at the nearby Rawthmells coffeehouse in Covent Garden by founder William Shipley and 10 of his contemporaries. They believed in the power of human ingenuity to change society for the better, and in particular that creativity might serve the common good. So, what brought me to the RSA? I was looking for information about an eighteenth-century Scottish composer, James Oswald (1710-1769), who spent the majority of his career in London from 1741 until his death in 1769. I knew Oswald was a member of the society in the early 1760s, and had come across one reference which suggested that he had been proposed by none other than Benjamin Franklin! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66e1b8412ba644705e60792d/eacee39d-8503-45e5-a06b-b07b6bd8c50e/20251105_103519.jpg News - At the Royal Society of Arts - Minute Book of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts Manufactures and Commerce My first port of call was the first minute book of the society from the earliest days of the society. I love reading through historic minutes of meetings; they can tell you a huge amount about the organisation in question - its aims and priorities at any particular moment; the personalities of those involved and the character of their contribution; disputes, challenges, and much more. Of course, all this depends on the level of detail included by the clerk or person responsible for taking the meeting notes, but records from this period are often rich in detail, and in this case I was able to confirm that James Oswald was indeed proposed for membership in July 1762 by the American polymath Dr Benjamin Franklin. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66e1b8412ba644705e60792d/0c9bf31b-b27a-46bf-b302-786c745a9d1c/20251105_102423.jpg News - At the Royal Society of Arts - Make it stand out James Oswald’s entry in the RSA’s Membership Subscription Book https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66e1b8412ba644705e60792d/2a86b88b-34f8-41d2-aea9-f95b814e629e/20251105_142359.jpg News - At the Royal Society of Arts - Benjamin Franklin House After my visit to the RSA, I headed around the corner to Benjamin Franklin House, where Franklin lodged from 1757 to 1775. There are many original features, and, without furnishings, you really get a sense of the character of this Georgian townhouse itself. Franklin’s rooms were on the first floor, and you can see in the picture on the right his small balconies. A guide told me that Franklin used to rise early, at first light, and invariably stood (naked!) upon the balcony for some minutes to give his skin an ‘air bath’, believing that this practice promoted health and well-being! If you’re around the Strand with a couple of hours to spare, I would thoroughly recommend a visit to Benjamin Franklin House (entry only £8), before heading round to the RSA. 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