The way forwards
It is intended that the conference should be the first in a series of biennial conferences. The Brighton conference will be the occasion when a European rural history society or co-ordinating organisation will be formed. A steering group has been working on a draft proposal document (below). There will be an opportunity to discuss and adopt these proposals, and conduct any necessary elections, at the plenary meeting to be held, at the Brighton conference, on Wednesday 15 September at 17.15.
EURHO – The European Rural History Organisation
Plans and proposals for an organisation to promote rural history in EuropeThe function of this document
This document is a draft (i.e. it may be altered) plan for a European Rural History Organisation (EURHO), to be adopted at the international rural history conference to be held in Brighton, UK, in September 2010.
It has been prepared by a working group consisting of Gerard Béaur, Paul Brassley, Rosa Congost, Ernst Langthaler, Peter Moser, Anton Schuurman, Yves Segers and Leen Van Molle.
Individuals and societies are invited to make proposals for the positions of President and Vice President, for members of the Management Committee, and to run the next conference in 2013. All these proposals should be sent to Paul Brassley.
Proposal
It is proposed that a learned society called the European Rural History Organisation (EURHO) should be founded at the international rural history conference to be held at Brighton in September 2010. Note: alternative names for the organisation have been suggested, including the European Rural History Society (EURHIS or EURUHIS) and the European Society for Rural History (ESRH).
The purpose of a European Rural History Organisation (EURHO)
The objective of the society should be to promote rural history in Europe, by encouraging and supporting research, teaching and publications in the field.
EURHO should be a working group of and for those studying the history of agriculture and rural life in Europe in any historical period. It should be a network both of individual academics and researchers, and of rural or agricultural history organisations, and so function as the meeting place for all rural historians in Europe and abroad, and those in related academic disciplines, engaged in the study of European rural history.
It should be an interdisciplinary and international organisation of scholars, aiming to stimulate dialogue and debate between historians and all other scholars engaged in research on the rural past.
The activities of the EURHO
In order to achieve its objectives, the EURHO aims to:
1) encourage the dissemination of rural history in Europe and improve access to it by providing translations and directories of publications and current research;
2) encourage and promote the study of European rural history in a comparative perspective or in the context of larger projects;
3) foster communication among rural historians across Europe, and their colleagues elsewhere, especially through conferences, publications, and internet services;
4) promote the further institutional development of rural history within the tertiary educational system;
5) promote research in rural history in academic programmes
It aims to hold biennial symposia, following the first conference held at Brighton in the UK in 2010 (although the first may not be held until 2013, in order to avoid clashes with the biennial European Social Science History Conference, which includes a rural group) for which it will appoint an organising committee and a conference secretariat.
It seeks to connect with and hence reinforce the activities of other relevant networks and journals.
Membership and funding
Members of the society may include organisations, institutions, and individuals.
National organisations concerned with the promotion of rural history will be encouraged to affiliate to the EURHO, and to make an annual financial contribution to its running costs in proportion to their membership and resources, as determined by the society’s Management Committee.
Individuals, especially those in countries that do not have a national organisation, or in which the national organisation has not affiliated, may also join the EURHO. Those attending the biennial symposium would be required to make an individual contribution, as determined by the Management Committee.
Funding will be required for the secretariat of EURHO and for all the activities of the organisation, such as meetings of the board members, producing and maintaining websites and newsletters, and the initial organisation of symposia. In addition to the funds raised from national organisations, one of the important functions of the secretariat will be to raise funding from national research programmes and European organisations such as the European Science Foundation or the European Commission.
Organisation
ESRH will be led by a President, who will act as its spokesperson. The President will normally hold office for two years and may be re-elected. Holders of the position are chosen from the Vice-Presidents. One of the Vice-Presidents will take the place of the President if necessary.
A number of elected members of the Society should act as a Management Committee to support and advise the President. The term of office will be two years. No one should serve more than three terms consecutively. The composition of the Management Committee should be as follows: an Executive Group of five, consisting of the President, two Vice-Presidents, the Secretary/Treasurer, and the Editor (who will have overall responsibility for all the publications of the Society), six regional representatives, (Suggestion: the regions might be arranged thus: 1. Scandinavia, 2. North West Europe (Ireland, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg), 3. South West Europe (France, Spain and Portugal), 4. Central Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria), 5. Eastern Europe ( Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and the states of the former USSR), and 6. Southern Europe (Italy, Greece, the former Yugoslav states, Bulgaria and Romania.)) and a representative from each national society making a significant financial contribution to the Society.
Ordinary General Meeting: the society will hold an Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) at each symposium. The OGM will choose the Committee members. The Management Committee will propose a central theme and location for the next symposium, which must be approved by the OGM. The OGM may appoint a Symposium Planning Committee of up to five members to advise the Organizer of the next symposium. Notice of the OGM and its Agenda will be circulated by the Newsletter before the symposium.
The EURHO will require a secretariat (which should include a treasurer). The role of the secretariat will be to produce and maintain the website, to edit and produce the electronic newsletter, and to receive and disburse the funds of the organisation. The location(s) of the secretariat and the institutions(s) concerned will be decided upon by the Management Committee at its first meeting.
Language and constitution
The working language of the Society should be English. Other languages may be spoken to promote ease of communication among the members, or used for documents where necessary for legal purposes.
The foregoing document is no more than a proposal for the foundation of the organisation. One of the initial tasks of the Management Committee will be to formulate a detailed constitution, based, for example, on the model of the constitution of the European Society for Environmental History. The EURHO should be non-profit-making and so constituted as to qualify as a charity in the country in which the secretariat is located.
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