Royal Institute of International Affairs

THE annual report of the Council of the Royal Institute of International Affairs for the year ended June 30, 1944, gives a brief review of the growth of the work since the Institute was established in 1919 for the scientific study of international affairs. A committee was appointed by the Council on April 19, 1944, to review the developments of a quarter of a century, "to re-examine the purposes for which the Institute was founded; to inquire whether any change is desirable in the present activities of Chatham House, or any shift of emphasis in order to increase its influence and value". Researches into international problems published during these twenty-five years appearing in the growing list of volumes under the auspices of the Institute have already placed Chatham House on a footing comparable with the national institutions established in other fields. Strict adherence to the basic rule that the Institute should express no corporate opinion on any aspect of international affairs has contributed in no small measure to recognition of its integrity and to the attainment of its present position. Means of study have been provided for the serious student of international affairs. The Library is the most comprehensive collection of its kind in England, and has overflowed from its cramped quarters into more ample reading rooms. The Press archives are unique, and after the War, when these archives are returned to Chatham House by the Foreign Office Research Department and again become generally available, they will be a source of information that will attract scholars from all over the world.