Institut d'histoire du temps présent

The Institut d’histoire du temps présent, also known as IHTP (Institute of the history of the current age), is a French research unit within the CNRS. Since September 2019 IHTP has been located on the Condorcet campus of the Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis at Aubervilliers. IHTP focuses on the phenomenon of war in the 20th-century and on systems of political domination such as authoritarianism, totalitarianism and colonialism. It also examines the cultural history of contemporary societies and the epistemology of present day history in terms of its relationship to the past through the specific medium of memory, witness and the role of historians amidst population centres.

History
It owes its foundation in 1978 to historian François Bédarida and was formally inaugurated in 1980. In 2016 it was constituted as a UMR and was attached to Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis when it absorbed the former Comité d'histoire de la Seconde Guerre mondiale (CHSGM), dating back to 1951. Its membership consists of specialist researchers into World War II and those analysing particular themes of contemporary history. It is headed as of 2014 by the historian Christian Delage.

Research areas
Aside from conducting direct projects into recent and current history, it serves as a hub for several national and international research networks. Its laboratory holds a library comprising monographs, periodicals, oral and written archives, devoted to the Second world war, to decolonization and to spoken history. In 2019 the IHTP collections were integrated with the major documentary holdings of the Condorcet campus.

Staffing
IHTP teams are led by CNRS researchers who include Christian Ingrao, Malika Rahal, Henry Rousso, Peter Schöttler and Nicolas Werth.

Directors

 * 1978-1990 : François Bédarida
 * 1990-1994 : Robert Frank
 * 1994-2005 : Henry Rousso
 * 2006-2008 : Fabrice d'Almeida
 * 2008-2013 : Christian Ingrao
 * Depuis 2014 : Christian Delage