Six years ago Biographical Studies began as an experimental publication. Our main intention then was to try and repair, by gradual stages, some of the omissions and errors in Gillow's Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics, and we defined our terms of reference accordingly. It soon became apparent, however, that by insisting rigidly upon them, we should have to exclude much valuable work in the field of Recusant history for which there was no other organ of publication. With the permission of the Council of the Catholic Record Society, which took over editorial direction in 1953, we began tacitly to disregard our original terms of reference and to publish research on any aspect of Recusant history. Our new title, therefore, is not an indication of a break in policy but a formal endorsement of a change which has been gradually taking place for some time. We hope to publish in future, in addition to specialised biographical and bibliographical studies, some articles based on original research but more general in their scope than anything we have so far printed. We also want to relate the periodical more closely to the affairs of the Catholic Record Society, and from time to time we shall print a resumé of the Society's activities.