Draft:International Comission for the History and Theory of Historiography

Dear Stuartyeates,

You have recently reviewed the proposed article on the International Commission for the History and Theory of Historiography (ICHTH). I am grateful for your effort and interest. To my regret, however, you rejected the submission, leaving the following reasons: 'Wikipedia articles require reliable independent secondary sources with in depth coverage of the subjects. I'm not seeing significant independent secondary sources on this org. A quick scan in google scholar isn't helpful either. If decent sources are added to the article, feel free to ping my talk page once you've resubmitted the article for review'.

I must clarify from the outset that ICHTH is not an association that produces scientific historical information itself. Therefore, a scan of Google Scholar will necessarily disappoint. In the Constitution of ICHTH (https://www.ichth.net/constitution) it is stipulated that ICHTH “promotes the study of theory of history, history of historiography, philosophy of history, historical methodology, and historical culture. It encourages debates and exchanges among different approaches to the above subjects of study.” In short, it is a global platform where philosophers of history and historiographers meet, in essence to promote scientific historical knowledge worldwide  - a purpose, indeed, that is at the heart of the Wikipedia project itself.

Let me now show you that ICHTH is worth a Wikipedia entry from both a quantitative and qualitative angle.

I have just googled 'International Commission for the History and Theory of Historiography' and found 22,100 results, including, for instance

- Wikipedia's own article on Historiography

- The web page of the International Committee of Historical Sciences: https://www.cish.org/index.php/en/members/international-organisations/

- This page from the Huizinga Instituut. Netherlands Research School for Cultural History: https://www.huizingainstituut.nl/working-group/theory-of-history/

- A newsletter from the Wesleyan University, Conn., USA: https://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2018/03/30/kleinberg-lectures-in-france-elected-to-historiography-commission/

- The page of the Centre for Historical Culture, University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands: https://www.eur.nl/en/eshcc/research/centre-historical-culture/general-information

- A book chapter published by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, quoted in the proposed article: https://books.google.com.br/books?hl=pt-BR&lr=lang_en%7Clang_pl&id=lcAAEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA165&dq=%22ichth%22+%2B+historiography&ots=ySvMTymuAC&sig=EmK35ugc8D5zQ0r91gsf1Yy-GL4&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22ichth%22%20%2B%20historiography&f=false

I think the list already suggests that the ICHTH is not as invisible on the web as the review might have assumed.

However, there are other ways than internet frequencies to assess the relevance of an academic organisation like the ICHTH. Longevity, global representativeness, the prominence of its members within their fields of study should all somehow be included in the assessment. The ICHTH is a 43-year-old academic association. It is an official member of the International Committee of Historical Sciences ( https://www.cish.org/index.php/fr/membres/information/?pdb=508 ), the world’s umbrella organization for historical sciences, but it functions completely autonomously just as the 70 or so other associations affiliated to the ICHS do. ICHTH is made up of leading university professors and researchers from all over the world, many of whom are considered important enough to have their own Wikipedia pages. For example, the Board of the ICHTH ( https://www.ichth.net/board ) consists of 13 members coming from 12 countries ranging from Canada over Nigeria to China and Australia. And its list of honorary members includes names such as Natalie Zemon Davis, Hayden White, Romila Thapar, Georg Iggers, Peter Burke, Joan Wallach Scott, Jürgen Kocka and Frank Ankersmit - a quick glance at their Wikipedia entries will confirm how important they are/were not only for the theory or history of historiography, but for historical studies in general.

Judging relevance will be unfair if we limit ourselves to the mechanical application of criteria designed to prevent spurious self-promotion or marketing strategies by profit-driven people and companies. And if we think in terms of longevity, representativeness or prominence of members, we will easily find Wikipedia articles on organisations of all kinds that would rank below the ICHTH.

So, in light of the above, I would kindly urge you to reconsider the decision to reject the article. Thank you very much for your attention. Aoaassis (talk) November, 13 2023.


 * Aoaassis, the criteria for inclusion in Wikipedia is A topic is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list when it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject. This is the metric the article must meet. Stuartyeates (talk) 17:32, 13 November 2023 (UTC)
 * I have the impression that my long and reasoned appeal has not been carefully read or understood. If sources are the problem, I had just listed some good ones above, attesting that the organisation exists and is recognised in its field. To the attentive and not ill-disposed eye, that should have sufficed. Such a pity that it has not. Aoaassis (talk) December, 8 2023.
 * I have the impression that my long and reasoned appeal has not been carefully read or understood. If sources are the problem, I had just listed some good ones above, attesting that the organisation exists and is recognised in its field. To the attentive and not ill-disposed eye, that should have sufficed. Such a pity that it has not. Aoaassis (talk) December, 8 2023.
 * I have the impression that my long and reasoned appeal has not been carefully read or understood. If sources are the problem, I had just listed some good ones above, attesting that the organisation exists and is recognised in its field. To the attentive and not ill-disposed eye, that should have sufficed. Such a pity that it has not. Aoaassis (talk) December, 8 2023.

The International Commission for the History and Theory of Historiography (ICHTH) is a non-profit organization composed of historians and scholars of related disciplines. Among other activities, it promotes conferences, workshops and publications, and periodically awards book and dissertation prizes.

History
Founded in 1980 on the occasion of the 15th International Congress of Historical Sciences, the organisation's original name was International Commission for the History of Historiography (ICHH). The name was changed in 1995 to better reflect the interest of many of its members in theoretical matters relating to history and historiography. The Commission is attached to the International Committee of Historical Sciences (ICHS), and is currently chaired (2022-2026) by Antoon de Baets, from the University of Groningen.

ICHTH is committed to promoting research and academic exchange in the fields of the history of historiography and the theory/philosophy of history. Its task has been described as that of a key institutional platform for various kinds of "cross-fertilisation between historical and philosophical perspectives". Its honorary members include Frank Ankersmit, Peter Burke, Lucian Boia, Bianca Valota Cavallotti, Natalie Zemon Davis, Georg Iggers, Jürgen Kocka, Jörn Rüsen, Masayuki Sato, Joan Wallach Scott, Romila Thapar, Richard Vann, and Hayden White.

Conferences and publications
Since its foundation, the ICHTH has organised or co-sponsored many conferences and workshops throughout the world. Of particular importance are the panels on history and theory of historiography that it has promoted in the framework of the International Congresses of Historical Sciences organised by the ICHS. The Commission was present at the congresses of Bucharest (1980), Stuttgart (1985), Madrid (1990), Montréal (1995), Oslo (2000), Sydney (2005), Amsterdam (2010), Jinan (2015), and Poznań (2022).

Founded in 1982, the journal Storia della Storiografia was an initiative of the ICHTH, with the aim of providing a high quality outlet for research in its fields of interest. Bianca Valota Cavallotti, from the University of Milan, was the founding editor. The journal's first published text was a methodological manifesto by Charles-Olivier Carbonell, reflecting on the relevance and potential of the field. Since 1991, the journal has been edited by Edoardo Tortarolo, in collaboration with Giuseppe Ricuperati, Guido Abbatista, and the late Georg Iggers (1926–2017). Although many of the contributors are members of the Commission, over the years the journal has become independent. In recent years, however, cooperation between the journal and the ICHTH has been reinforced.

The Commission sponsored the publication of the reference work Great Historians from Antiquity to 1800, chief-edited by Lucian Boia. Its members have contributed to some of the most important collective reference works and book series in the field: Bloomsbury History: Theory and Method (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021–), Oxford History of Historical Writing (Oxford University Press, 2011–2015); Making Sense of History (Berghahn Books) (2002–), The Politics of Historical Thinking (De Gruyter, 2019–), and Elements in Historical Theory and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2022–).