Editorial 2007

The 2005 Sydney Congress represented a step forward in the globalisation process of the ICHS, being the first time a Congress was held in the Southern Hemisphere. It was of the greatest scientific value, and we all enjoyed the hospitality and understanding of our hosts, and the beauty of the lands of Australia. We must thank all the organisers, particularly Professor Martin Lyons, for the effort made and the success obtained.

In 2010, the Amsterdam Congress will bring us back to Europe, and to the place where these meetings began, if we consider the meeting held in The Hague in 1898. Dutch hospitality will no doubt be up to its excellent standards as it was for the organisation of the Bureau meetings in 2002. The organisation of the Amsterdam Congress will unquestionably be our main task over these five years.

The 2007 General Assembly in September in Beijing proved most fruitful. The structure for the upcoming Amsterdam Congress was completed, with the final selection of themes and sessions. Precise rules were set to facilitate its preparation, and “joint sessions” were introduced which will enhance dialogue. In approving the themes, all ICHS members were given a hearing, and the result is a good balance in the proposals, taking account of different methods, times and geographical areas. There was also partial renewal of the Bureau, following the resignation of two members. Professor Pierre Ducrey stepped down as Treasurer after many years of extraordinary collaboration. His endeavour, intelligence and work have made his cooperation the necessary base for our operation. Professor Sorin Antohi has also resigned, following a brief but effective term of collaboration. The Bureau and the General Assembly approved the nomination of Professors Laurent Tissot and Roger Chartier for these positions.

It is undoubtedly an important moment for rethinking our work. An institution with such a long and excellent past must stop from time to time and think about the future. Thus the sub-committees approved at the Sydney General Assembly, which met during the Bureau Sessions in Santiago de Compostela in October 2006, are proposing major changes directed to improving the ICHS’s structure and the organisation of its Congresses. A number of scholars and institutions have also started reflecting on our past. We have to celebrate the English edition of Karl Dietrich Erdmann’s book, and the 2005 colloquium in Rome commemorating the Congress held there in 1955. The foreign Schools in Rome promoted this initiative: Also, some national Committees are publishing histories of their origins and actions.

In addition, other tasks must continue, for the promotion of historical research. Publications particularly the Bulletin and the regional meetings must go on. In this sense it is important for both the Bureau and the General Assembly to support new initiatives, as has always happened in our tradition. We will thus be able to adapt to the new times, where the East-West division has ended, but not between the North and the South. The generous and appropriate conduct of the International Committee of Historical Sciences has always taken problems of wealth and poverty, justice and injustice, political confrontations and understandings into account.

José Luis Peset
President