The History of Technical Societies: Why and How to Do Them

Many scientific and technical societies devote some resources to historical programming. Most do an excellent job at making the histories of their organization and discipline accessible to members, historians, and the interested public. However, the main purposes of a technical society are to foster the interests of its membership and to advance the state of its scientific or engineering field. Historical activities are secondary to these purposes. Thus, it is important to ask two related questions (particularly at a time of economic difficulty and straitened society budgets): why and how ought technical societies do history? First, what value do commemorative and historical activities have for professional societies? Put more simply, why should a technical society care about history? Second, how should professional societies collect, preserve, and present their histories? To answer these questions, I surveyed the historical activities of a dozen scientific and technical organizations. I present the results of my investigation in the next section. I conclude by offering some thoughts about the IEEE´s current historical activities and prospects for future efforts.