About us

The Origins of the Society and the Founding

At the ‘Varieties of Cultural History‘ conference, at the University of Aberdeen, 5-8 July 2007, a meeting was held to consider the establishment of a Cultural History Society. It was proposed by Peter Burke of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and generally agreed, that ‘International’ should be included in the title. In order to launch such a Society, the meeting set up a provisional committee to prepare a constitution, to arrange a founding conference, to develop the membership, and to explore the establishment of a Journal and occasional publications series. The Provisional Committee co-opted additional members so as to increase the number of countries represented. The report and recommendations of the provisional committee can be viewed by clicking Provisional Comitee Report 2008. A constitution was prepared by the provisional committee and approved at the Founding General meeting of the Society in Ghent on 31 August 2008. To see the constitution of the ISCH, after the changes made in 2019, click here. Subsequent annual reports of the Committee and AGM minutes can be found on the Committee, AGM Reports/minutes page.

How to become a Member of the International Society for Cultural History? Click here.

A printable ISCH publicity flyer can be downloaded here.

Translations of ‘International Society for Cultural History’

  • Shoqata Nderkombetare e Historise Kulturore (Albanian)
  • Kansainvälinen kulttuurihistorian seura (Finnish)
  • Internasjonalt selskap for kulturhistorie (Norwegian)
  • Internationale Gesellschaft für Kulturgeschichte (German)
  • Société internationale d’histoire culturelle (French)
  • Sociedad internacional de historia cultural (Spanish)
  • Società internazionale di storia culturale (Italian)
  • Internationella samfundet för kulturhistoria (Swedish)
  • مجمع التاريخ الثقافي الدولي (Arabic)
  • Uluslararası kültür tarihi derneği (Turkish)
  • 国际文化史学会 (simplified Chinese)
  • 國際文化史學會 (traditional Chinese)
  • 国際文化史学会 (Japanese)
  • Mezinárodní společnost pro kulturní dějiny (Czech)
  • Sociedade Internacional de História Cultural (Portuguese)
  • Διεθνής Εταιρία Πολιτιστικής Ιστορίας (Greek)
  • Cymdeithas Ryngwladol Hanes Diwylliannol (Welsh)
  • Rahvusvaheline Kultuuriajaloo Selts (Estonian)
  • Asociaţia internaţională pentru istoria culturală (Romanian)
  • Međunarodno društvo za kulturnu istoriju (Serbian)
  • Mezhdunarodno obshchestvo za kulturnata istoriia (Международно общество за културната история) (Bulgarian)
  • Internationale Vereniging voor Cultuurgeschiedenis (Dutch)
  • Mednarodno društvo za kulturno zgodovino (Slovenian)
  • Internasionale Vereniging vir Kutuurgeskiedenis (Afrikaans)
  • Międzynarodowe Towarzystwo Historii Kulturowej (Polish)
  • Starptautiskā kultūras vēstures biedrība (Latvian)
  • Международное сообщество по Истории культуры (Russian)
  • Societat Internacional d’Història Cultural (Catalan)