British Record Society

The Society was founded in 1889 to take over the Index Library, which had begun life the previous year as W. P. W. Phillimore's private scheme for the publication of indexes to British public records, now the brief of the List and Index Society. The Society was also always interested in record conservation, and to act as what would now be called a pressure group for archives and their users, pushing for the creation of county record offices and county record societies. The inception of an official series of Lists and Indexes in 1892 reduced the need for private publication of indexes to records in the Public Record Office. The Society consequently turned its attention to records held in other repositories.

In 1898 the Society’s Scottish section became the totally independent Scottish Record Society. In 1933 the Society's Record Preservation Section was similarly taken over by the newly founded British Records Association (B.R.A.).