Catholic Record Society


The Catholic Record Society, founded in 1904, is a scholarly society devoted to the study of Reformation and post-Reformation Catholicism in England and Wales. It has been described as "the premier Catholic historical society in the United Kingdom", and has been credited with making much otherwise obscure archival material more readily available.

History

The society was initially established in 1904 as a text publication society, with the aim of publishing Catholic historical records. Active members in its early years included Joseph Gillow, J. H. Pollen, and Joseph S. Hansom. It subsequently developed into a more general historical society.

Publications

The Society continues to issue volumes of source material relating to Catholic history in the CRS Records Series; and a separate series of monographs, CRS Monographs. Both series are published on the Society's behalf by Boydell & Brewer.
It also publishes a journal, which was originally titled Biographical Studies, 1534–1829 ; then Recusant History ; but which since volume 32 has been known as British Catholic History, and is published by Cambridge University Press.

Conferences

A residential three-day conference is organised each year, at which the society's AGM takes place. For many years these events took place at Plater College, Oxford. The 2019 conference, held at the Bar Convent in York, was the first to be non-residential.