Int'l Conference on the History of Freemasonry. Edinburgh , 29-31 May 2009

22.04.2008

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY 
FREEMASONS’ HALL, GEORGE STREET, EDINBURGH, 
29 MAY- 31 MAY 2009 

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT | CALL FOR PAPERS 

Held under the Patronage of: 
Most Worshipful Grand Master Mason, The Grand Lodge of Scotland 
Most Worshipful Pro Grand Master, The United Grand Lodge of England 
Most Worshipful Grand Master, The Grand Lodge of Ireland 

Held under the Special Patronage of: 
11th Earl of Elgin and 15th Earl of Kincardine, KT 

and with the support of: 
The Centre for Research into Freemasonry, University of Sheffield 
Centre interdisciplinaire bordelais d’étude des lumières-Lumières Nature Société, Université de Bordeaux III 
Centre d’Étude de la Langue et de la Littérature Françaises des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles (CELLF), Sorbonne IV, Paris 
Chair of Freemasonry, Faculty of Religious Studies, University of Leiden 
Centre de la Méditerrannée Moderne et Contemporaine, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis 
The Interdisciplinary Research Group Freemasonry,Free University of Brussels 

The first International Conference on the History of Freemasonry (ICHF) was held in May 2007. Although many within the academic world were known to have an interest in this area of research holding an International Conference on that subject alone was something of an experiment. H be will people many that attending delegates with success overwhelming owever, the conference proved to be an of the date and the fact from all over the world. Prior to the conference it had been described as: ‘an academic conference about freemasonry’ and was perceived therefore, not to be a ‘masonic conference.’ It was therefore heartening to see that a significant number of delegates who attended were freemasons and members of the general public. 

The feedback at the end and following the conference was positive and often included the question, 'When will the next Conference be held?'
It has been determined that International Conferences for a specialist subject such as freemasonry are best held every two years. The next question was, 'Is the next International Conference to be held in Edinburgh?' It had been noted that 2009 is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, National Bard of Scotland, and an ardent freemason. Due to the significance of the date and the fact that many people will be visiting Scotland during the 'Home-Coming year', it seemed logical that the conference once again be held in Edinburgh. It is hoped that some of the papers presented at the 2009 conference will include a few on the life and work of Robert Burns, particularly in relation to his masonic career.

The overarching purpose of the conference is to illustrate and exemplify the wide range of scholarly work being undertaken on the history of freemasonry and will seek to advance further scholarly work in this area by providing an overview of recent work by scholars in this field of study. It is hoped that the conference will reinforce the advances already made in establishing the history of freemasonry as a distinctive field of a historical research in its own right.

Proposals for a paper to be presented at the conference are therefore warmly welcomed. Papers, and subsequent papers, may cover any aspect of the history of freemasonry and embody a historical approach which should advance rational academic enquiry into the historic significance of freemasonry.

Current issues within freemasonry are not considered suitable for ICHF but should be concerned with the academic analysis of freemasonry. Proposals must embody original research and should not previously have been published. Proposals should consist of an abstract of not more than 300 words giving details of the academic affiliation of the speaker. Papers may be delivered at the conference in English or French.
Proposals which are accepted will be assigned to an appropriate session by the academic committee. Each paper should be no more than 25 minutes long when delivered. The use of visual material for presentations is strongly recommended and projectors and computers will be available.

Proposals are also invited for panel sessions which should consist of three papers on a coherent theme or subject by different speakers intended to form a single 90 minute session. Such a panel proposal should contain the name and academic affiliation of the organiser of the panel, then means and academic affiliations of each speaker, and an abstract of not more than 300 words for each paper together with a short rationale for the panel of no more than 200 words. The panel proposal should include the name of the chair for the panel. A respondent may also be nominated if appropriate. As is the case with most International Conferences of this nature all speakers will be expected to pay for the registration fee themselves and for other elements of the conference (travel, accommodation, conference dinner and other social activities). It is anticipated that registration fee for the full conference will be in the region of £250. 

PROPOSALS FOR PAPERS AND PANELS 
SHOULD BE SENT BY E-MAIL TO: 
ICHFpapers@glasconf.demon.co.uk 
before 12th June 2008. 

Late proposals will not be accepted. All proposals will be subject to anonymous peer review. 
The outcome of the review of all the proposals will be announced by 31st August 2008. 

CHECKLIST FOR THE SUBMISSION 
OF PAPERS OR PANELS 
• Submissions must contain: 
• Author’s name, institution, postal and email addresses, telephone number 
• Co-author’s names if applicable 
• Title of paper or panel session 
• Name of chair for a panel session 
• Three to five suggested key words for indexing papers 
• 300 word abstract of each paper (with an additional 200 word justification for a panel session) 
Please state the category to which you are submitting: 
• Paper or 
• Panel Session 

LOCAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE 
Mr Robert L D Cooper, Curator, Grand Lodge of Scotland 
Dr Andreas Önnerfors, Centre for Research into Freemasonry, University of Sheffield 
Mrs Dorothe Sommer, Centre for Research into Freemasonry, University of Sheffield 
Mr Jim Daniel, History Department, University of Sheffield 

ACADEMIC COMMITTEE 
Professor Dr Andrew Prescott, Lampeter University, Wales, UK 
Professor Margaret C Jacob, University of California L.A., USA 
Professor Charles Porset, Sorbonne, Paris, France 
Professor Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire, Université de Nice, Institut Universitaire de France 
Professor Malcolm G. Davies, Chair of Freemasonry, Leiden University, The Netherlands 
Professor Jeffrey Tyssens, Free University of Brussels, Belgium 
Dr. Dominique Soucy, Université de Franche-Comté/Besançon, France 
Professor Cécile Révauger, Université Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3, France 
Professor Tatiana Artyemeva, St Petersburg Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia 
Professor Paul Rich, Stanford University, USA 
Dr. Yuri Stoyanov, Kenyon Institute London, UK 
Dr. Henrik Bogdan, Gothenburg University, Sweden 
Professor Martin Papenheim, University of Bielefeld, Germany 
Dr. Kristiane Hasselmann, Free University of Berlin, Germany 
Dr. Andreas Önnerfors, Centre for Research into Freemasonry, University of Sheffield, UK 
Professor Miguel Guzmán-Stein, Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica 
Dr. Eric Saunier Université du Havre, Le Havre, France 
Aubrey Newman, Professor Emeritus, University of Leicester, UK 
Professor Baudouin Decharneux, Director CIERL, Université libre de Bruxelles 
John M. Hamill, BA, ALA Director of Communications, UGLE, London, UK 

More information is available on the conference web site: www.ichfonline.org.