History of Conferences

From about the turn of the twentieth century, international conferences have become standard features of scientific life. Yet although they have frequently featured in the historiography, the role of such meetings has predominantly been discussed as a background against which the real action of interest took place. In this session we want to break with this tradition and put the spotlight fully on the conference itself, as a phenomenon. What were international scientific conferences? What kinds of interaction, sociability, and performance did they embody? What was their role in the production of knowledge? How did they mediate participants from different nations, ranks, classes, genders? How have their forms evolved and varied over time? These are many large questions and we do not pretend to answer them all. Instead, we hope to make a start by considering a number of angles from which conferences can be studied: their international character, their inclusivity and exclusivity, and the rituals that have accompanied them as gatherings of expert communities. Together we hope that these may indicate directions toward a fuller understanding of the phenomenon we are so familiar with.