dodis.ch/75267

Report presented to the CISH Board by the Vice-President, Barker1

The Use of the Congress to Publicise the Value of History to a Wider Public

Our Congresses have so far been family affairs. Historians have spoken to other historians and reported their proceedings in historical journals. We do not speak to the public at large who, largely through our own fault, are coming to believe increasingly that History is not a subject worthy of much priority in our educational systems.

In mid-December I sent a letter to the Presidents of National Committees (copy attached)2 to suggest possible means of gaining publicity for our subject at the time of the Madrid Congress and seeking their views.3 The eleven replies I received (from Britain, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Germany (DDR), Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Spain and the Vatican) all support the proposal to gain publicity and have provided the names of people with whom we can communicate in their various countries who have media (mainly TV) contacts.

I should like to suggest the following plan of campaign, part of which can be mounted from Madrid and part from the various countries which support the Congress:

The Congress Organisers could appoint a Press and Television Officer who would circulate, about a year in advance (August 1989), the conference dates and programme to the Spanish newspapers, radio and TV and to correspondents of foreign newspapers, radio and TV. By that time, copies of the various papers to be presented to the Congress should be available and it might be possible to send summaries of them (or such ones likely to be of media interest). The aim at that stage would be to persuade the recipients to get in touch with the Press and Television Officer so that some regular contact could be developed. We would also need to circulate the names of paper readers and short biographies.

Immediately before the Congress (i.e. earlier in August 1990), the Press and Television Officer should acquire some voluntary helpers who would make media people welcome at the Congress itself, introduce them to participants, arrange interviews etc.

So far as TV is concerned, if Spanish TV is interested, it might be possible for it to produce in advance a prerecorded videotape highlighting aspects of the Congress, or of historians talking about their subjects and its relevance in the modern world (perhaps with extracts from old newsreels or other illustrative material). This could be made available – no doubt at a suitable price – to other television networks. Professor Kosary, President of the Hungarian National Committee, would welcome for TV in his country «short video material containing statements from the more prominent personalities of the International Committee, material putting into relief the importance of the Congress and of the participation in this international meeting of the representatives of small countries».

We have names in eleven countries of those who have media contacts. If we can persuade some other countries to reply to my letter of mid-December, so much the better. We can let them have details of the Congress and ask them to see if their media contacts can get some advance publicity for participants from their own countries if not for the Congress as a whole.

The suggestion has been made that if one or two small groups (perhaps two or three in a group) could make a tour of a few broadcasting organisations in advance of the Congress, videotapes of discussions could be made in these various countries. Press interviews could also be arranged. If the tour could be over a short period of time, moving on quite rapidly from one country to another, the costs could be shared by the broadcasting organisations and so kept quite low.

Rudi Thomsen, Chairman of the Danish National Committee, in his reply, suggested that if we are to «sell» the Madrid Congress, we need to deal with those historical topics which will really attract attention. We need not merely to circulate the programme as a whole but to bring out those parts of it which are likely to prove of general interest. From these we shall be able to make the case for the study of our subject as one vital to any understanding of the present-day world.

The Secretary of the Vatican Committee has made a most valuable offer we could take up without delay. He is prepared to send to all Catholic universities throughout the world a copy of our conference programme.4