The very first congress in Amsterdam ... Call for Memories

Dear Colleagues

In August 2022 we will be holding the 16th Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy in Bordeaux. The very first congress was held in Amsterdam in the darkening Europe of 1938 – see the attached images. It was the congresses which gave birth to the Association, which was founded at the sixth congress in 1972.

Two aims of the Congresses are to meet and hear from current scholars in the field and – perhaps more importantly – to encourage new epigraphers. But they also present an opportunity to remember earlier scholars in our field, and to catch memories which might otherwise be lost.

In preparation for the 16th Congress, therefore, we wish to collect precious memories of earlier meetings; while we have the official Acta, we do not have any record of the personal experiences and the important interactions and meetings which are such an valuable element in such events The Athens Congress in 1982 was the first to be organised by the AIEGL; we would like to invite anyone who has memories of any Congress before 1982 to share them. This could be in the form of photographs and documents – which would be very welcome, especially if they have accompanying information! But we would particularly welcome recorded reminiscences. Some members may be happy to record their memories themselves; in other cases younger members might perhaps record an interview with their seniors. Voice recordings are fine: video recording would be even better!

We would like to present these materials in Bordeaux; we also intend to add them to the Archives of AIEGL.

If you would be able to contribute please write to Charlotte Roueché (charlotte.roueche@kcl.ac.uk ; http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3606-2049)

It would be good to assemble all the materials by June 2022.
With very best wishes, and all our hopes for being able to meet in person before too long.